Farmers Profit from a Budget - Farm Radio Scripts

Notes to broadcasters

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Making a budget is an important part of financial planning for farmers. If farmers learn to make and use a budget, they can:

Earn more money from crops and livestock.
Determine whether or not they can afford new tools, or pay other expenses such as the cost of extra hired labour.
Determine which crops will be the most profitable, and how much of each crop to grow.
Identify financial problems in advance, for example, places where too much money is being spent. The farmer can then correct the problems before their whole business is affected.

This script should be followed up with information about how to make a budget. You can use script 2 in this package (Ekua makes a budget) for that purpose or use this story as a starting point for your own research and programming. Contact bankers, traders, school teachers, and others who may know about budgets and financial planning.

Suggestions for further scripts on this topic:

A group of farmers create a budget for a community project.
Budgets for farmers who do not read or write.
How to keep accurate records of your sales and expenses.
How to keep good crop records.

[Note to broadcaster: Be sure to follow this program with information for your listeners about how to make a budget. You can use script 2 in this package (Ekua makes a budget) for this purpose.]

Script

Characters

Narrator

Kwesi:

Young man

Ama:

Young woman

Ekua:

Older woman, friendly, confident and outgoing

Narrator

-This story involves three farmers: Kwesi, his wife, Ama, and their neighbour, Ekua. It is a story about good financial planning and making a budget. By making a budget, farmers can save money. Without one, as this story shows, there can be disaster. Listen and find out why.

Kwesi

-(calling his wife) Ama! Come! We’ve got trouble!

SOUND EFFECTS (Approaching footsteps.)

Ama

-What’s wrong, Kwesi?

Kwesi

-(anxiously) Have a look at this letter we received from the bank. It says we don’t have enough money in our account to make our next loan payment. In fact there is almost no money in our account!

Ama

-But I don’t understand. We had a good harvest. Where is all the money from the harvest?

Kwesi

-I don’t know. I can’t understand it. I don’t think we spent more money than usual.

Ama

–(tearfully) What are we going to do?(starts to cry)

SOUND EFFECTS (A loud knock at the door, then door opening.)

Ekua

-Oh! Excuse me! I thought you were here by yourself, Ama. But what’s wrong with you? Why is she crying, Kwesi?

Kwesi

-(pauses)Oh, it’s nothing. She’s fine.

Ekua

-She’s fine? She doesn’t sound fine! What’s going on?

FADE IN QUIET MUSIC AND HOLD SOFTLY UNDER NARRATOR

Narrator

-Many people are embarrassed to admit that they are having problems with money. But Ekua is a good friend. Ama and Kwesi feel they can trust her. So they decide to tell her about their problem. Now, back to the story…

FADE OUT MUSIC

Ama

-(tearfully) Ekua, I will tell you what is going on. We have money problems. Our loan payment is due, and we haven’t got enough money to pay.

Ekua

-But you had a good harvest. Where did your money go?

Ama

-I don’t know. I don’t know.(crying) I think we’re in big trouble.

FADE IN MUSIC AND HOLD QUIETLY UNDER NARRATOR

Narrator

-Many times farmers and other business people don’t know where their money went. Did they spend too much on seeds? On pesticides? Were transportation or fuel costs high? Or maybe there was less money coming in? Were crop yields low? It’s hard to remember. And if you don’t keep records you might never know.

Keep listening because Ekua has some good advice for Kwesi and Ama about making a budget.

FADE OUT MUSIC

Ekua

–(in a practical tone) Okay, Kwesi and Ama, let’s go over this together. Do you keep records of all the produce you sell, and everything you spend? And do you use that information to plan for each growing season? What I mean is, do you keep records and make a budget? That will tell you where the money went.

Narrator

-Kwesi and Ama look at each other awkwardly. They don’t know what a budget is.

Kwesi:

(defensively) I’m sure we spent the same as we did last year!

Ekua

-Well, maybe not. Did you have extra costs for pesticides?

Kwesi

-No.

Ekua

-Did you buy any new equipment?

Kwesi

-No.

Ekua

-Did you hire any extra labour?

Kwesi

-No.

Ama

-Wait a minute, Kwesi! Remember that week of bad weather when we couldn’t harvest the maize by ourselves? We hired people to help with the harvest so the maize wouldn’t rot in the fields.

Kwesi

–(slapping his forehead) Oh … I’d forgotten that. We hired two people for two days. That cost us a lot of money.

Ekua

-Kwesi, if you kept records of everything, you wouldn’t have forgotten that! Listen, we all forget things. That’s why keeping records is important. If you write it down, it’s much harder to forget!

Ama

-She’s right, Kwesi. We’re never going to be successful if we don’t keep track of what we spend and what we earn.

Kwesi

-Yes, I can see that I guess.(pause)But tell me something, Ekua. Why do you know so much about making a budget?

Ekua

-I learned about budgets the hard way. My husband and I almost lost our land because we didn’t plan our expenses. I can never forget that. Some day I will tell you the story.

MUSIC TO END PROGRAM

Acknowledgements

Contributed by Vijay Cuddeford, Toronto, Canada.

Reviewed by Bruce Fraser, Finance Officer, International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), The Hague, The Netherlands.

Information sources

ISNAR Training Module: Financial Management for Research on Agriculture and Natural Resource Management. International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), PO Box 93375, 2509 AJ The Hague, The Netherlands. E-mail: isnar@cgiar.org This module is available on the ISNAR website

Basic Farm Calculations II, Training in Agriculture Series, #201, 1989. Inades-Formation Kenya, 15, avenue Jean Mermoz, Cocody – Abidjan 08 B.P. 8 – Abidjan 08, Ivory Coast. Tel: (225) 44 31 28/44 31 29, Fax: (225) 44 06 41.

Modern Agriculture Farm Business, Unit 10: Budgets, Credit, Costs, Marketing, 1977. Schools Agriculture Panel, Ministry of Education, Mbabane, Swaziland. Oxford University Press, Cape Town, South Africa, 1977.

Participatory Farm management methods for agricultural research and extension: a training manual, by Mark Galpin, Peter Dorward and Derek Shepherd, 2000. University of Reading, Department for International Development, PO Box 237, Reading RG6 6AR, United Kingdom.

Notes to broadcasters

Script

Acknowledgements

Information sources

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