Resource Pack 64
Your listeners may be at great risk to the effects of natural disasters. If they are in poor rural areas, they are more likely to be affected. Drought, floods, cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes – these natural disasters can strike anywhere. But they disproportionately affect the poor. More than 90 per cent of disaster related deaths occur in developing countries. A single disaster can wipe out years of economic development.
Resource Pack 63
National, regional and international efforts are vital to control the spread of animal diseases. But there are also steps that small-scale farmers can take to prevent disease in their own livestock. The radio scripts in this package will help broadcasters produce programs that outline actions for small-scale farmers. Important prevention methods include: Becoming familiar with livestock diseases, Controlling the movement of livestock, Monitoring the quality of livestock fee.
Resource Pack 62
HIV/AIDS is much more than a health problem in rural communities. Because it kills or weakens adults in the prime of their working life, it also has a severe impact on farming and food security. The following scripts gives ideas and information about ways of coping with the impacts of HIV/AIDS on rural communities. As we’ve seen, HIV/AIDS limits the availability of labour. People need information about how to produce more food in less time with fewer resources. This script package discusses labour-saving practices, appropriate technologies, and communal action based on current or traditional practices.
Resource Pack 61
In many areas of the world, and for many reasons, farmers lack the necessary information to improve farm activities. When farmers do receive information about the results of agricultural research, it is not always useful or relevant to their particular circumstances. Sometimes the methods designed to help farmers are unrealistic because they are too costly or rely on inaccessible resources. Or the information might be presented in a very technical way, or in an unfamiliar language. When farmers and scientists work together, farmers get a chance to explain their problems and perspectives. Researchers can respond to problems identified by farmers, and create opportunities for new research that addresses local challenges.
Resource Pack 60
Also known as traditional knowledge or local knowledge, indigenous knowledge is the wisdom held and shared by the people in your community, and passed down from generation to generation. It can be knowledge about farming methods, medicine, technologies, the environment, the spiritual world, or anything else that is important to a particular community of people. The disappearance of indigenous knowledge is a significant problem. Women and elders have an important role to play in preserving this valuable resource. For example, women possess an enormous amount of knowledge about food production and processing, medicine, child-rearing and other important survival skills.
Resource Pack 59
In rural areas as in urban areas, youth face disease, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, unsafe work environments, social exclusion, and limited opportunities for education and employment. Many choose to leave their rural homes in search of a better life. Our challenge is to involve youth as active partners in food security and agricultural production. We must do this by overcoming constraints such as lack of land, access to credit, and lack of education and training for both farm and non-farm activities; by providing income-generating activites in rural areas, and access to agricultural extension and other support services.
Resource Pack 58
Our January 2001 package features seven crops that are regularly grown and play a central role in diets in many parts of the world. One or more of them is probably grown by the farmers in your audience. They are: maize, rice, cassava, sweet potato, yam, green leafy vegetables and finger millet. Crops such as rice and maize are widely recognized as staple crops and are the focus of much research by scientists. On the contrary, minor millets such as finger millet, foxtail millet and proso millet, have been largely ignored by scientific research and as a result many farmers have stopped growing them.
Resource Pack 57
We focus attention on the important contribution that women make in their communities. As development workers, we want to raise awareness of the challenges that women face every day. Women’s work is poorly understood, undervalued and underestimated. Women in rural areas have very little access to information. They are mostly poor and illiterate. Inexpensive information technologies – such as radio – can play a major role in creating awareness, enhancing information exchange, and enabling women to adopt technologies and techniques with the potential to bring positive change.
Resource Pack 56
Since the beginning of organized agriculture thousands of years ago, farmer-breeders have developed tens of thousands of varieties of crops. Each crop and variety has specific uses, and together they act as a kind of crop insurance. Even in difficult growing conditions – drought, torrential rains, poor soil, or pest infestation – a farmer who has planted different crop varieties will still have a harvest. In this way, crop diversity – sometimes called biodiversity – contributes powerfully to local food security.
Resource Pack 55
The scripts in this package give many different examples of how to successfully grow trees with crops and livestock. Trees have many different uses. They can be used as fuelwood and as timber for building. They also supply food, fruits, nuts, fodder for animals, mulch, oils, resins and medicines. Trees also control runoff and soil erosion, improve soil fertility, provide living fences, and protect livestock from cold winter winds and summer heat.