Backgrounders
Backgrounders are brief introductions to important and technical topics and Answers to frequently asked questions share key information on a topic.
Use this information to plan an episode or series of episodes on the topic, to prepare for an interview, or to answer questions from callers.
- All
- Agriculture
- Aquaculture
- Children and youth
- Climate change
- Community development
- Crop production
- Energy
- Environment and climate change
- Gender equality
- Health
- Hygiene and sanitation
- Land issues
- Livestock and beekeeping
- Marketing and market information
- Nature-based Solutions
- Nutrition
- Post-harvest activities
- Social issues
- Soil health
- Trees and agroforestry
- Water management
Keep Baby Chicks Warm
By keeping a few chickens in your backyard you get protein from eggs and meat. And you can make extra money by selling the eggs or meat. In fact, you might start thinking about increasing the number of birds you have and making a business of selling eggs and meat. First of all, decide how…
Grow Your Own Fertilizer -Plant Cover Crops with Maize
Many farmers in different parts of the world are growing their own fertilizers. Commercial fertilizers are becoming more and more expensive and they often fail to keep the soil fertile. So farmers are growing cover crops which are available, inexpensive, and help to keep the soil fertile for many years. Cover crops protect the soil…
DCFRN Hints
A Nearly every farmer in the world has a problem with rats at some time or other. There are many different ways of dealing with this problem. Witoon Uan-cham-roon of the Appropriate Technology Association in Thailand knows a simple way to control rats. He says that many Thai farmers cut up the leaves and stems…
Use Bamboo To Move Water Pt.2
Today let us think once again about bamboo, and about more ways you can use it to help you get more work done with less effort. You already know how to preserve bamboo. You also know how to make and use bamboo water pipes and troughs and how they can be joined together to move…
Use Bamboo To Move Water
A good way to move water is through a long trough or pipe. The big problem with metal or plastic pipe is that it costs quite a lot of money. Many farmers make their own pipes or troughs out of bamboo poles. To do this you must first select suitable poles. It is best to…
Growing Fruit
Compost for fruit trees Fruit trees grow best in deep, fertile, well-drained soils. Most fruit trees need to be fed with additional nutrients when they are growing. In poor soils it is good to provide nutrients from time to time beginning at planting. In deep, fertile soils, this is only necessary when the fruit tree…
Feed Different Foods to your Baby
In a small village a health worker meets a woman with a beautiful baby girl. Here is how she greets the woman. “Good morning. My goodness your baby is growing so big and strong! She’s been nursing very well and she’s been gaining weight every week. It’s easy to see that she’s nice and healthy.…
How Trees Help Crops
Perhaps you or other farmers in your region practice a type of farming called slash and burn (shifting cultivation). This is done by cutting down the forest, burning the trees, and planting crops on the land the trees were on. After a few growing seasons, shrubs and trees are allowed to grow again while another…
A few farming hints
Save and edit this resource as a Word document. A. Snails as fish feed and fertilizer Lung Chieng is a farmer in northeastern Thailand. He has fishponds on his farm and grows fruit trees on the bunds that separate the ponds. Many snails live beside the ponds in the moist areas under the fruit trees.…
Use Bones to Make Fertilizer
When you cook chicken or other meat, you often have bones left over. You can use these bones to make good fertilizer for your garden. It’s easy and doesn’t cost any money. All you have to do is boil the bones in a pot of water, dry them, and crush them. First collect the bones. …