Radio Broadcast as an Extension Tool in Dry Season Vegetable Production in the Upper West Region, Ghana A-H. Abubakari 1, K. G. Mahunu 1, P. Kumah 2, I. A. Idun 2, M.R. McDonald 3, D. Ceplis 4 M. Pritchard 5, J. Owen 6 1 Department of Horticulture, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana; 2 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; 3 University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada; 4 Box 1716, Minnesota, MB, Canada; 5 University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada; 6 Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada, Bouctouche, NB, Canada Project: Dry season vegetable project in the Upper West Region (UWR) of Ghana initiated in 2001  Project partners: Ghana Institute of Horticulturists (GhIH), and the Canadian Society for Horticultural Science (CSHS) are both under the Agriculture Institute of Canada (AIC) International Twinning partnership programme (ITPP)  Four pilot communities: Nandom, Babile, Karni and Busa (3 districts)  Project area: UWR (8 districts, covering 18,476 km 2 )  Between 2001and 2005, project enhanced food security and introduced Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in pilot communities  Between 2006 and 2009, Farmers at Piina, Behii and Siiru joined the project as a result of GhIH radio broadcast  Enormous distances between project sites  Time, cost, and logistical constraints  Project staff work as volunteers Since 2005, GhIH programmes and discussions are broadcast monthly on Radio Upper West (Radio UW)  Repeat broadcast are done weekly and broadcast coverage is 150 km radius  Scripts are written on GAP such as the preparation and use of garden compost  Field demonstrations and discussions on GAP are recorded  Scripts are discussed on air and field recordings played back on air. These broadcast are known as “Farmers Forum”  Listeners participate in live broadcast through phone calls  Survey of 122 farmers who listen to the radio broadcast provided useful feed back and lessons (Figure 3 and 5) Introduction  Broadcast programmes on GAP across UWR  Maintain listeners' interest  Encourage farmers to adopt better production practices  Work with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in developing scripts and recordings Challenges in up-scaling project Strategies for up-scaling Objectives of the radio broadcast Figure 4. Radio producer recording field discussions Figure 1. Map of UWR: project sites highlighted in white Figure 2. AIC and GhIH team discussing climate change and gender issues on Radio UW  Radio set is the cheapest mass media tool and both men and women have easy access  “Farmers’ Forum” has become popular among farmers because of the improved scripts on composting of garden waste and importance of vegetables in family nutrition (Figure 3)  Women benefit more from early morning and late evening broadcast because of their tight domestic schedules (Figure 5)  Radio programmes have helped farmers improve yield and become conscious of nutrition and food safety issues Conclusions The radio broadcasts:  Extend the project reach at little cost  More stakeholders participate in project  Scripts and audio materials make valuable teaching aids  Radio materials and public inputs become useful for monitoring and evaluation Project partners should:  Evaluate lessons learned in the radio broadcast  Develop guidelines and template for radio programme production and review  Share lessons with extension officers and other stakeholders working on food security Acknowledgement: Undertaken in Partnership with Agriculture Institute of Canada ITPP and the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Abdul-Halim Abubakari, Department of Horticulture, UDS, Box TL 1882, Tamale. Tel: (0) Figure 5. Convenient time for women and men listeners GhIH Lessons learned Recommendations Figure 3. Farmers’ favourite programme on Radio UW