Resource Pack 90
This package features the 15 winning scripts from the radio scriptwriting competition on smallholder farmer innovation. The scripts tell fascinating stories about creative farmers across sub-Saharan Africa who have come up with ways to improve their livelihoods
Resource Pack 89
Climate change is often presented in the media as a horror story, a disaster waiting to happen. It’s true that most scientists agree that, even if the nations of the world manage to strongly cut emissions of greenhouse gases, the global climate is still going to change, in many ways for the worse. And small-scale African farmers are among those who will be most affected by these changes, both because they are dependent on the weather and because they are often poor.
Resource Pack 88
This package features six scripts on livestock health, a central and vital issue for smallholder farmers in Africa. Livestock disease outbreaks can wipe out household animals, family savings, and mean the difference between food security and hunger. Also in this package are three rice scripts, one script on climate change adaptation, and one on the natural environment.
Resource Pack 87
Sometimes wildlife damage farms and destroy crops. In other cases, farming activities, including clearing forests for farming, harm wildlife and destroy their habitat. How can rural communities and wildlife co-exist? Villagers must grow food and make an income. People need to farm, but no-one wants to unnecessarily harm wildlife. What is the answer? How can wild species and human populations live harmoniously side by side?
Resource Pack 86
Water is an important and basic requirement for human survival, and is usually regarded as “life.” However, availability and safety of water are two important factors for a good life. Access to clean water is crucial, especially these days when we are facing the effects of climate change.
Resource Pack 85
For a good rice harvest, healthy seed is essential. Unripe grains or grains that have been damaged by insects are lighter in weight than healthy grains so they can be removed if you float them in water before sowing. Grains with black or brown spots are also unhealthy but these grains are not necessarily lighter so they can’t be removed by the floating method.
Resource Pack 84
An increasing number of natural phenomena that are completely unexpected by rural communities are occurring today. In some regions, there is unexplained flooding. In other regions, communities are powerless in the face of drought and desertification that is getting more serious from day to day.
Resource Pack 83
When a large percentage of a nation’s population is employed in agriculture, development practitioners often argue that this is a sign of underdevelopment. As a result, government programmes have focused on reducing the number of people employed on the farm by encouraging investment in other sectors of the economy, such as the services sector.
Resource Pack 82
This package addresses a range of rural women’s health issues, including the intersection between HIV/AIDS and domestic violence; the impact of selenium consumption on HIV positive individuals; maternal and child depression; female genital cutting; the loss of agricultural knowledge when parents die of AIDS; the health (and economic and social) benefits of fonio in West Africa; health concerns related to women and farming tools; a story of women improving their lives through processing shea butter; modifying old traditions so that they work today; and the practice of “breast ironing” in Cameroon and other West African countries.
Resource Pack 81
The African Rice Centre (WARDA) recently coordinated a contest in which prizes were awarded to top local agricultural innovations from Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Mali. On April 20, 2007, representatives from each of the countries involved in the competition took part in a one-day scriptwriting workshop at WARDA in Benin. In this workshop they learned how to share the winning agricultural innovations through radio scripts.