"In 2010, Farm Radio International gathered information about farmer radio programs from radio stations in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi. We visited twenty stations and two production houses and listened to their farmer programs. We posed hundreds of questions to the people making the ... programs and to the people listening to them. Stemming from our findings, we are publishing a list of tips for broadcasters who want to improve their farmer programs starting right now! Positive change rarely happens overnight – but it does start with one forward step. We have grouped these tips into three categories: quick fixes, middle-sized improvements, and the big stuff. We encourage you to consider implementing the “quick fixes.” If they work out, move on to more complex improvements. Before long, you will have a transformed radio program – more effective and more fun - with more job satisfaction too!" (Introduction) more

"The African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI) was a 42-month action research project implemented by Farm Radio International (FRI) in partnership with World University Service of Canada (WUSC), and with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. An estimated 40 million farmers in five ... different countries were served by the AFRRI partnership with 25 radio stations. Farmers engaged in the design and development of farm radio programming were almost 50 per cent more likely to take up agricultural practices deemed to improve their food security than passive listeners. Those in what AFRRI deemed "active listening communities" (ALCs) were 10 times more likely to adopt the practice than those farmers who had no access to the farm radio programs. Farmers demonstrated increased knowledge of agriculture innovations as a result of listening to AFRRI radio programs, with up to 96% of some radio listeners scoring at least 60% on a follow-up knowledge quiz about the promoted farm practices [.] Farmers participate in selecting the focus – or topic – of the radio campaign, choose the time of broadcast, and are intimately engaged in the ongoing development of the farm radio programming over a set number of weeks; including as central agents of the knowledge-sharing process. Lively and entertaining formats are designed to attract listeners. [.] This report presents and discusses the key findings from an in-depth evaluation of 15 round-two Participatory Radio Campaigns (PRCs) – three PRCs in each of the five countries involved in AFRRI. AFRRI examined a mix of radio stations – community, associative, commercial, and state. Tools used for this evaluation included 4,500 household surveys (300 per radio station) in 90 communities, farm visits and field measurements, key informant interviews, and collection of secondary data (from other sources, such as national agricultural extension services)." (Executive summary, page 5) more