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Community
Radio -
60% of the
people in Bundelkhand are engaged in agriculture for more than half a
year. The region has been witnessing extremely erratic weather. The last
13 years have shown a 40% reduction in annual average rainfall and a 60%
decline over the last 5 years. Droughts have become more common than
before increasing rate of distress migration to cities. A few days later, Vijay tuned into ‘Khet Khalihaan’ programme on 90.4 FM which he has been listening to for the last 2 years. This show reporting on agricultural trends in Bundelkhand has become a ‘one stop shop’ for farmers in this climate sensitive region. On the show, all the other farmers heard about Vijay’s mistimed sowing. A seed expert recommended alternate wheat crops that could be used to maintain productivity. By harvest season in April 2020, Vijay’s story turned around. “We were expecting only about 1400 kilograms this year but the harvest has been 2000 kilograms,” a satisfied Vijay shared over the phone. Another popular programme on Bundelkhand Radio is ‘Shubhkal’ (a better tomorrow). This focusses on climate impacts and how to mitigate and adapt to unseasonal rains and increasing droughts. The Bundelkhand Community radio, which is home to both of these programmes, was initiated in 2008 by the Development Alternatives Group. “When we started working in this region, we sensed that local concerns of the rural communities here were not getting enough space in the national and state level media,” says Brigadier Pankaj Sinha, Administrator of Development Alternatives-Bundelkhand Operations. The Community Radio today covers 150 villages, reaching out to over 200,000 people residing in areas of Jhansi and Tikamgarh.
The
Shubhkal programme emerged from a year-long campaign that the Radio
carried out in 2010 called “Kaun Banega Shubhkal Leader?” (Who wants to
be a Leader for a Better Tomorrow?). The World Bank supported campaign
divided 100 villages into groups, designating each with one of the four
themes: agroforestry, rain water harvesting, organic farming and kitchen
gardening. It reached about 15,000 listeners, making it the most popular
programmes on the station. Radio Reporters broadcasted thematic information for villages to adopt the practices. On a weekly basis, experts were brought in to monitor the progress of the farmers, which would earn the farmers points. At the end of the campaign, the highest scorer was announced as a winner and presented a certificate and ₹10,000 ($USD 130). Prakash Kushwaha, a farmer from Nevadi was the winner of the Shubhkal campaign. He experimented with organic fertilizers made by mixing leaves, soil, cow manure & urine and jaggery - a type of brown sugar made from sugarcane juice. This helped him shift from chemical fertilizers like Diammonium phosphate (DAP) which harm the soil in the long-run. Prakash shared that buying one sack of DAP and Urea (which consists of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) used to cost ₹1500 ($USD 20) and ₹400 ($USD 5) respectively. But the organic manure that he calls “amrit mitti”, (literally translating to ‘elixir soil’), is practically free, since all the inputs are available on their own farms, as long as their family owns the cattle. For the past decade, this locally produced ‘elixir soil’ has helped grow Prakash’s organic vegetables. The community radio thus acts as a lifeline for the rural community in Bundelkhand by giving information related to climate change, agriculture, water conservation, health, hygiene, education, livelihood opportunities, entrepreneurship and other issues of local interest.. ■
This article has been
extracted from the author's write up for www.oneearth.org
Vaishnavi Rathore
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