Farm Radio - a village in Mali

Distance education ... this is awesome. Interested? See Farm Radio International http://www.farmradio.org/ for more information.

clipped from www.cbc.ca Farmers here are always looking for ways to get better yields from their millet, peanuts and maize, to get more eggs from their chickens and to raise healthier livestock. Fertilizer is expensive — unaffordable for most — and age-old farming methods can be improved. The way to do that is through good information. And in Mali, as in most of Africa, radio is the key. The first morning sound you hear in Fana is the Muslim call to prayer. The second is a wide-awake rooster. The third is the wave of talk and music coming from everyone's battery-powered radio as they light the breakfast fires and get ready for the day. Farmers hang radios around their necks so they can listen while they hoe weeds or herd the cows.