“… The greatest challenge to development is not access to technology but the willingness of local people to share information …”

Viewed in isolation and in the contemporary era of breakneck technological advancement, this observation made in 2010 as part of an International Fund for Agricultural Development–Swiss Development Cooperation study conducted with members of a small rural community in Tanzania seems almost quaintly counterintuitive. But The First Mile project and the experiences recounted by the Hai and Babati district villagers – then living below the poverty line – in a related video revealed simple lessons that provide an insightful response to the question, “What can information and communication technology do to benefit the world’s poorest rural people?”

As important as laying cables, constructing microwave towers and opening Internet cafés are for supporting communication, the study concluded that cooperation, trust and the sharing of information within the villages and community are equally critical for successfully linking all parts of the market value chain in fair commercial dealings. Project manager Clive Lightfoot observed that more collaborative knowledge-sharing and interactions ensued once villagers accepted that “behavioural change can make money and that money is to be made in partnership”.

The quality of the information, especially its relevance and usefulness, is also crucial for reversing market dysfunctionality. Villagers said they were not prepared to spend time, let alone money, to use technology to communicate unless the information was very worthwhile.

Fast forward a decade, and farmers in another part of Tanzania interviewed in 2020 by Yenkasa spoke about how crucial local radio programmes are for providing a space for their voices to be heard and for sharing information. “I know that I am privileged to listen and follow different programs aired through MVIWATA [the Swahili acronym for the National Network of Small-Scale Farmers Groups in Tanzania] FM”, said Odilia Jiovin, a farmer from Kilosa District, an area known for the production and marketing of sunflower, coconut, sugarcane and sisal. “I always take the initiative to share the information with my fellow farmers in our community and to apply the knowledge shared through the radio on my farm where other farmers come and learn too,” she said. MVIWATA began operating a radio service in August 2020, with support from the Forest and Farm Facility, a partnership involving FAO and other organizations.

Irianto et al. (2019) concluded from their research into the Role of Community Radio in Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) in Rural Indonesia that the “means of communication that can reach all the interior rural areas is community radio”. In Nigeria, Adeyeye et al. (2021) found that “farmers’ behavioural changes resulting from agricultural radio programmes produced in indigenous languages greatly influence farmers’ productivity”.

Consciously or unconsciously, we respond to attempts to influence our behaviour, but the right choices are largely predicated on our access to reliable news and information. When such access is compromised, our subsequent decisions can be flawed and not fully formed. For small rural communities engaged in economic transactions but distanced from urban contacts and networks, good-quality information can make a life-changing and even life-saving difference. As Lifeline Energy describes in 9 big reasons why radio is important in Africa, radio can foster many benefits for African communities, countries and the continent as a whole.

It will be important, therefore, to balance the rollout of the internet in rural Africa – which is undoubtedly vital – with continued investment in radio programming and the transmission of technical and market knowledge and information in indigenous languages that meet the needs of African farmers and rural communities.

Patricia