FVR
Sustainable agricultural
extension through technology
Smallholder farmers in Sub Saharan Africa
are a vulnerable population
GDP
growth
based
Over
60%
of
the
Extension
65%
33%
of the is
on
agriculture
entire workforce of
services
are
population
population
are
effective earn
at
SSA are involved
increasing
incomes
under
undernourished
$2 per
day
broken
in agriculture
for the poor
Radio and mobile phones offer a costeffective alternative
Current limitations of radio and mobile
approaches
•Insufficient radio airtime
•Limited topic coverage
•Limited involvement of agricultural
specialists and farmers
•Feedback does not guide content
•Unsustainable business model
A sustainable, participatory model
for providing timely,
relevant
agricultural extension services to most
smallholder farmers by linking
extension officers and farmers with the
power of radio and mobile phones.
1. SUSTAINABLE APPROACH
FVR Solution:
•Core business
alliance
•Supporting
consortium
•Regional office
PARTICIPATORY APPROACH
FVR Solution:
•Farmers’ voice
included at
every stage
•Structured, builtin feedback
system
3. TIMELY & RELEVANT
APPROACH
FVR Solution:
•Quarterly
agricultural radio
agendas
•Linked to
agricultural
calendar and
program
schedules
4. REACHING MORE FARMERS,
EFFECTIVELY & EFFICIENTLY
FVR Solution:
•Production
teams
Redundancy
•Tested
principles of
radio instruction
Short
program
formats
More air
time for
agricultural
programs
Feedback
FVR BENEFITS
105 extension officers linked
with 36 radio stations
Opportunities
fortoaagricultural
farmer to hear
Airtime
dedicated
agricultural
programming
information
(impressions)
59%
listen per week
weekper
Airtime
repeats)
program per
of of(minutes)
Impressions (no.
week
Sustainable FVR consortia set
up in 4 countries
400
350
350
371
342
61% trust
300
300
250
250
Stations have changed their
programming
FVR has demonstrated the
power of radio & mobile
Minimum
78%
timed
appropriately
Minimum
200
minutes
200
repetition
Maximum
Maximum
minutes
repetition
150150
65%
sufficient information
100
100
50 50
60
60
30
17 practices
74% implement
1 3
0 0
Before
Before
FVR
FVR During
DuringFVR
FVR
FVR EVOLUTION
ICT for Farmer Development
www.farmervoice.org