Week 2B: Benefits and challenges of collaborating on farmer programs

Archived English Discussions Collaboration
#41

My week 2B contribution: Benefits and challenges of collaborating on farmer programs.

  • During one of my field works last year in an encleved village called Azi, i happened to discovered during my research that, bed bugs have been dealing with people within that community out of their knowlegde and children were more venerable to this pest and suffered the consequences more than the youths and adults.
    In a way to help the community out, i was led to meet the paramount chief through the help of an elder and explained my findings. The chief asked my opinion on how we could eliminate the pest from the community? I answered, educating the people of its harmful effects and how bed bugs can completely be eradicated from their environment would be the best option.

  • Now to dessiminate this human assistant program to a wider range, i made connection with two radio stations. One private radio station and one government to both help the public and some farmers in particular who careless habout their sleeping surroundings.

  • At the Village square, the people gather one evening to receive teachings on bed bugs which was our main topic. Teachings started after they were all welcome.

  • Now, If you did not know, this is an insect called bed bug.

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This insect feeds on the blood of warm blooded animals with preference for human blood. The people listening exclaimed hmmmm!. Unlike most other blood sucking insects, these bugs prefer the room as their habitat especially rooms that are airtight, rooms with so many disordered clothings or furniture, beds with dirty bedsheets. Bites from the bugs can cause skin rashes that might result to severe allergic reactions. The insects can also transmit a parasite that causes chagas disease. Their presence can lead to sleeplessness.

To prevent/control these pests of medical significance the following should be practiced at home

  1. Keep things clean and orderly always in the rooms.
  2. Regularly wash your bedsheets by soaking them in iziah detergent mixture overnight.
  3. Keep your room airy and with much sunlight.
  4. Spray your mattress with mosquito insecticides and sundry for about 5 hours at least once a month.
  5. Spray your room with peppermint oil or garlic oil or cinnamon oil or eucalyptus oil.

Collaboration Benefits:
The people in that community were very happy because they have discovered what have been draining their little moneys in terms of health care and even killing them out of their own knowledge. Best of it all, they were happy they have acquired knownledge lesson learned.

Collaboration Challenges

  • Some elders and traditional herbalist were not happy because, had it been they knew long since that is how the teachings were going to be very interesting, they would have hired me and levy a sum to the people.
  • This same manipulators serious warned the people not to meet me for whatever reasons one- on-one or for any further talk except authorised. Since am not a medical doctor but researcher as they defend their point.
  • At the radio station, if not all most of the experts (enthomology) kept hi-jacking the interview from broadcasters as our shared resources for week 2 pin-points about how to carry out an interview with experts. Irrespective of how humble the broadcasters manager the interaction, these personalities often use their titles and positions to role out effective collaboration which ought to be a win-win situation to balance the scale of discussion in the world of communication. Even though the wedge is often felt, most of these stakeholders are good intellectuals of the society.

Thanks,

Mike Achanyi
Cameroon Link.

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#42

Happy weekend to everyone in the house, Olusina Motiasan is my name from Ejulenen93.7fm igbodigo,okitipupa,ondo state,Nigeria. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to meet bunch of intellectuals people like Busi,Bfiafor,Yakubu,Martins,Assparadio,Steven ngole,Mike Achanyi to mention but few I thank you all for this great knowledge impacted to me am very grateful in fact I wish we meet physically for another life boosting coursework you people are wonderful

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#43

I will try to reflect what we discussed this week on e- discussion on our program agbeloba(farmers are king) which will comes up by 7pm today.Being a volunteers in a community radio the works are much as for me present as many program up to 10 in a week and anchoring other religious and special programs so I present, produce, reports and castnews it’s also becoming part of me for giving me this opportunity to partake in this e discussion it’s another moral booster so I thank you all

#44

Well coordinated collaborations have no major challenges apart from times when you are translating technical languages into local farmers languages. These days scientists know the need to do that exercise for successful results.

#45

Awesome summaries on benefits of collaborations and challenges on farmer programs.
Some other benefits might include the leveraging on each others strengths and resources, effective utilization of scarce resources ( time, money and human), reduced duplication of interventions/information to same target/audience, trust and relationship building.
Challenges might also include: Not engaging enough to get the buy in of stakeholders before the start of collaboration, not selecting the right caliber of people with the requisite skills and expertise to handle technical issues with a local touch/context and the sudden halt of planned activities due to misunderstanding or low commitment from either party.

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#46

I think that is the greatest challenge of our time, partners feels the media runs on promises

#47

For us, collaboration with some stakeholders has resulted into referals for media Businesses, the stakeholders end up getting us business in talk shows, spots message which may not necessarily be for farmers.
The trust built between us - the media and partners as well as farmers makes it easy for us to work together for a common goal.
We have become source of hope and Development for some farmers
In challenges, some are parasitic in their collaboration with us.
Some go a head to get illicit money from some of their partners claiming they are doing their work minus informing the media, once detected we discontinue the collaboration.

#48

Yes Martin, they are brought by the radio stations to teach about herbal medicine in form of collaboration. But at the same time they sponsor some of those programs to promote their practices which contravenes the broadcasting law of this country; things like witchcraft then deceiving that they can give people riches, fortune etc. The law here is even too weak to reprimand them. They bring in a lot of money for the radio stations here.

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#49

We are equally proud of you! for your time, energy and efforts put in reading the bits shared while stirring our e-discussion on collaboration positively. You will certainly become a moving encyclopedia some day as you keep one acquiring knownledge here and there hoping to meet you some day. Till then see you in week-3. Have a blessed weekend with friends and family.

Rejoice,

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#50

Rashid Muzungyo from Kapchorwa Trinity Radio in Uganda.
To answer the question on the benefits of collaboration, the practice encourages broadcasters to conduct regular consultations with the listeners, extension workers and station managers on production of effective farmer radio programmes.
On the challenges, there are cases of delay in decision making.

#51

Rashid, I think the delay in decision making has always been due to the fact that, the engagement of two parties often involves the meticuleous screening of terms. Besides, other top administrator too must be consulted to approve thego ahead or Not. With the rapid growth and development in technology.
I believe there will certainly come a time some days brocasters and stakeholders would turn to colloaborate without witnessing this challenge of time so called Delays.

#52

Sponsoring is like giving someone money to help them out or as financial assistance or in media’s case paying for airtime so that one/a company/product or organization can promote itself or praise its brand; were as collaboration is a process of 2 or more people work together to accomplish a task, this does not usually involve money but effort and strategy. Teamwork so to say.

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#53

There are several benefits in collaborating but let me say that it helps radio presenters to link both farmers and stakeholders by providing a platform for open discussion between the two. It allows farmers to get funds from donors when linked by the radio programs.
Challenges such as not understanding each others’ aims or goal, because, remember it should be a common goal which is the target.
In instances where the presenter was a coordinator, if a collaboration fails to yield fruit the two parties may loose faith in both the station and the radio presenter.

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#54

Well said @rehema That really explains the difference.

#55

Hello Smwarere I think:-

Collaborations

Brand collaborations are usually unpaid, but product is typically provided. Sometimes they ask you to buy the product or give you a discount code, but this is generally something to avoid unless they give you product for free. Why should you pay THEM for your hard work?:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Partnerships

Partnerships may be paid or unpaid; the term can be vague and you may need to ask the brand for clarification on what they’re offering.

Sponsorships

This is the biggest goal as influencers - a paid deal where you are offered payment for promotion services on your channel.

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#56

There are several benefit in collaborating especially the host, the Agragators and the farmers. Linking a farmer and an agragator helps business to flow when it comes to marketing or selling their food stuff. What I normally do to help my farmers is invite them at the same the agragator on my faming programme, by doing this give them the opportunity to know each other .we all know that recently most of the
FOSSWAM Runsheet episodes dose talk about weight and measure and Ghana here is not easy to accept or adopt the practice especially where I work Ejura Sekyedomasi municipal so I got one man who use scale to buy maize :corn: because my farmers were complaining about the size 5 suck majority of the Agragators use and invited him on my show and a few farmers . And as I’m chatting now most of the farmers work with this agragator I am talking about. And as for the Assembly and other stakeholders I am still on it. But for the farmers to admire you the host you have to to what you can before the stakeholders joined In. As for challenges that was the chemicals the use to spray their farms they recently complained but I talk to the Agric Director here and measure has been taken.

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#57

Thank you very much Moses.

A lot of sharing has put it clearly from many of you here. Thank you.

#58

Challenges

  • If stakeholder collaborate with national broadcasters, most farmers are left out because the programs will be in English( that is the case in southern Africa ).
  • Lack of trust between the stakeholders and broadcasters

Benefits

  • Subsistence farmers don’t get enough knowledge concerning farming. Community radio then becomes an effective platform to disseminate that vital information.