Communication for Food Security and Agricultural Development in Africa

This edition of The Soul Beat looks at the role of communication in promoting food security and agriculture in Africa. It highlights a range of summaries of projects, strategic thinking documents, resource materials and trainings that deal with the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs), community radio, community participation and a gender-sensitive approach in promoting effective food production. A selection of summaries also look at this issue in the context of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on the Soul Beat Africa website and in The Soul Beat newsletters please contact the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com

PROGRAMME EXPERIENCES

1. Capacity Building for the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) Project - Africa

This project is a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)-funded effort to address the communication needs of FARA, an umbrella organisation bringing together and forming coalitions of major stakeholders in agricultural research and development in Africa. The aim of the project includes: building capacity to coordinate and exchange information on agricultural research in Africa, promoting the role of agricultural research to national governments, and stimulating the development and dissemination of new technologies in natural resource management, genetic resource management, biotechnology, policy, and market development.

Contact Monty P. Jones info@fara-africa.org AND MJones@fara-africa.org OR Njabulo Nduli
ddgaprm@nda.agric.za

2. Projet Radio - Madagascar

This is a rural radio project for regional development in Southern Madagascar funded by the European Commission Food and Security Division. The project delivers information to isolated rural village populations in the southern parts of the country via Freeplay radios with the aim of empowering local people to help improve their standards of living - in particular, by developing programmes to promote practical ways of increasing food security and reducing the effects of poverty. The project collaborates with 16 local FM radio partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and service providers that form an association called Partners for Communication and Information for Development (PCID).

Contact Rosalba Leonelli OR Gerry de Lisle
admin@andrewleestrust.org OR Hanitra Raharimanana altmg@fortnet.net AND alt@wanadoo.mg OR Yvonne Orengo yorengo@andrewleestrust.org

3. Dimitra Project - Global

Dimitra is an information and communication project that aims to improve the living conditions and status of rural populations (women, in particular) in Africa and the Near East. It highlights rural women's contributions to the development of their communities and aims to give a voice to the grassroots through the promotion and exchange of information on gender, women and rural development issues. The project is implemented by the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division (ESW) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium).

Contact Eliane Najros OR Maartje Houbrechts
dimitra@dimitra.org

4. Ichi chalo (This World in Which We Live) - Zambia

This project involved a radio soap opera highlighting risks to food security in Zambia. The programme formed the centrepiece of a World Food Programme (WFP) campaign designed to help prevent a food crisis, which threatened 2.9 million people in the country. The goal of the programme was for people to draw the link between food security and their own security. Topics dealt with in the series included the impact of HIV/AIDS, childhood malnutrition and natural disasters such as droughts and floods.

Contact Richard Ragan wfpinfo@wfp.org OR David Stevenson WFP.Lusaka@wfp.org

5. Ghana National Agricultural Information Network system (GAINS)- Ghana

This project is an effort to identify, collect, process, and disseminate all agricultural information produced in Ghana and elsewhere to support agricultural research and sustainable development in order to ensure food security in the country. Headed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), GAINS is the library and information system component of the Government of Ghana/World Bank-supported National Agricultural Research Project (NARP) and links the libraries of all the agricultural research institutions.

Contact Joel Sam
Jsam@workmail.com

STRATEGIC THINKING

6. Role of Rural Radio in Agricultural and Rural Development: Translating Agricultural Research Information into Messages for Farm Audiences

by Sylvia Biraahwa Nakabugu

This paper states that if used in conjunction with other modes of promoting agriculture and development, radio can play an effective role in rural development. Using examples from Uganda, the paper aims to demonstrate the linkages between rural radio, agriculture and rural development and offers recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness of radio in this area. It states that planned radio campaigns complementing face-to-face advice and extension, together with administrative and material support, can motivate and inform rural communities thereby contributing towards social change.

7. A Comparative Review of Multi-stakeholder Arrangements for Representing Farmers in Agricultural Development Programmes and Policy-making in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Jim Bingen

This paper compares three different models of representational farmer organisations - the Chambres d'Agriculture model introduced in several French-speaking West African countries, the CNCR model (Le Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des Ruraux) from Senegal, and the Farmers Fora model in Uganda - that seek to improve the responsiveness of agricultural and rural development programmes and policies to farmer concerns in sub-Saharan Africa. The organisations are compared according to the following criteria: services to members, policy representation, member representation, inter-organisational relationships, member financing and financial accountability, and political accountability. The paper concludes with a summary evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each model, and suggested policy and programme recommendations for donors and governments.

8. Making Information and Communication Technologies Work for Food Security in Africa

by Romeo Bertolini

In this brief, the author makes the point that bridging the digital divide through the development and use of ICTs, such as fixed-line and mobile phones and internet services, will not directly solve the challenge of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs), but it can make a significant contribution. The author writes that knowledge and information are important factors for accelerating agricultural development by increasing agricultural production and improving marketing and distribution. ICTs can enhance the integration and efficiency of agricultural systems by opening new communication pathways and reducing transaction costs, given greater accessibility of information about prices, transportation, and production technologies. Opportunities for ICTs in promoting food security discussed in this study include ICTs and agricultural production, ICTs and nutrition, and ICTs and the marketing and distribution of agricultural produce. The paper maintains that the telephone is the only ICT used by the majority of farmers in Africa.

9. Ensuring a Food Secure Future: Ingredients for Change

by Panos London

This media toolkit attempts to answer the question: What can journalists do to ensure that hunger is a prominent issue in the media? According to Panos, 600 million people will regularly go hungry, unless there are changes in food security policies. The document explains that, not only weather conditions, but also conditions set by international financial institutions, socio-economic inequalities, corruption, agricultural trade, and HIV/AIDS can all contribute to a decline in food security, which can in turn lead to famine. According to researchers, violent conflicts are behind many food crises. Issues of social inclusion and gender also often dictate who has access to food and to the land, financial credit, and education to obtain it.

10. Gender, Local Knowledge, and Lessons Learnt in Documenting and Conserving Agrobiodiversity

Research Paper No. 2006/69

by Yianna Lambrou and Regina Laub

This paper explores the linkages between gender, local knowledge systems, and agro-biodiversity for food security by using the case study of LinKS, a regional FAO project in Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. The project aimed to raise awareness on how rural men and women use and manage agro-biodiversity. They also aim to promote the importance of local knowledge for food security and sustainable agro-biodiversity at local, institutional, and policy levels by working with a diverse range of stakeholders to strengthen their ability to recognise and value farmers' knowledge and to use gender-sensitive and participatory approaches in their work. This is being achieved through three key activities: capacity building, research, and communication.

11. Applying Information and Communication Technology to Enhance African Capacity in Agriculture and Food Policy Research, Outreach and Teaching: A Collaborative Internet-Based Initiative to Build a Food Security and Policy Information Portal for Africa (FSIP)

Role of Information Tools in Food and Nutrition Security in ACP-Countries Annual CTA-Seminar, Maputo, Mozambique, November 8-12 2004

by Josué Dioné, Michael T. Weber, John Staatz, and Valerie Kelly

This paper aims to identify opportunities and constraints facing a programme being undertaken by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), several regional African policy research networks, and the Department of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University (MSU). This collaborative internet-based tool, the Food Security and Food Policy Information Portal for Africa (FSIP), is being developed to give researchers and policy makers a one-stop and multi-language location for: easily accessing key data and analyses on food security and food policy for every country in Africa; sharing their own work with colleagues across the world; finding training materials on more effective use of the ICT, and on improved applied research and policy analysis methods; and spotlighting experiences on how to improve the effectiveness of policy extension efforts.

For more information related to this topic see these past editions of the Soul Beat Newsletter:

The Soul Beat - Issue #31: "ICTs & Agriculture" , January 12 2005

The Soul Beat - Issue #43: "MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger", July 13 2005

The Soul Beat - Issue #73: "Harnessing Local and Indigenous Knowledge in Africa" , October 25 2006

MATERIALS

12. Participatory Communication: A Key To Rural Learning Systems

by Gary Coldevin

This publication focuses on issues in the field of communication and education for development. It provides an overview of the tools and methodologies of participatory communication as well as some experiences of the FAO Communication for Development Group.

13. Agricultural and Rural Extension Worldwide: Options for Institutional Reform in the Developing Countries

by William M. Rivera in collaboration with M. Kalim Qamar and L. Van Crowder

This 51-page publication focuses on recent agricultural extension reform measures that promote food security and poverty alleviation among small-holders in low-income countries. In many of these countries, the authors point out, agricultural and rural extension is in disarray, which highlights the tension between the modern force of globalisation and the traditional forces of culture, geography, and community. The document explores both market and non-market reforms in the Philippines, Iran, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Eritrea, Mozambique, Uganda, Yemen, and other countries. In this context, the paper proposes strategies to help FAO staff provide guidance to these countries on the reform of their agricultural and rural extension systems.

14. Strategic Approaches to HIV Prevention and AIDS Mitigation in Rural Communities and Households in Sub-Saharan Africa

This document aims to provide a suggested framework of action for the FAO's engagement in HIV/AIDS prevention and impact-mitigation in rural Sub-Saharan Africa at the community and household level. Potential activities to be undertaken in both high and low HIV/AIDS prevalence areas are described. Finally, this paper provides the preliminary guidelines for FAO to "intensify" its action in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation in Africa.

15. Communication for Development Publications CD-ROM

This CD-ROM contains publications from the FAO Communication for Development Group. It covers a wide range of searchable topics related to communication for development in many countries. As a compiled source of knowledge and experience, this CD-ROM can be a useful tool of communication itself. It can help policy makers, planners, educators, extension workers and others use communication to inform and educate people about new ideas and technical innovations in agriculture.

16. Building On Gender Agrobiodiversity And Local Knowledge - A Training Manual

This training manual is based on experiences collected in numerous training workshops carried out under the FAO-LinKS project in Eastern and Southern Africa. It focuses specifically on the linkages between local knowledge systems, gender roles and relationships, the conservation and management of agro-biodiversity, plant and animal genetic resources, and food security. Its aim is to promote a holistic understanding of these components. The manual is aimed at a wide target group and aims to be a conceptual guide for trainers, a resource material for participants in training courses (mainly researchers and extension workers), and a reference material for others working within the context of agro-biodiversity management, gender and local knowledge.

TRAINING

20. Regional Training Workshop on Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Impact Assessment of Research and Development (R&D) Investments in Agriculture (Jul 16-27 2007) - Njoro, Kenya

The overall purpose of this training workshop, organised by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is to build the institutional capacity to conduct impact assessments.

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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com