Media Trust partners radio stations to ease information access for farmers

Media Trust Limited, the publishers of the Daily Trust titles, has entered into a partnership with some selected radio and television stations to ease access to information on agriculture among rural farmers. The partnership, is facilitated by ENABLE2 (Enhancing Nigerian Advocacy for a Better Business Environment phase II), a DFID-funded programme and being implemented by […]

Media Trust Limited, the publishers of the Daily Trust titles, has entered into a partnership with some selected radio and television stations to ease access to information on agriculture among rural farmers.

The partnership, is facilitated by ENABLE2 (Enhancing Nigerian Advocacy for a Better Business Environment phase II), a DFID-funded programme and being implemented by Adam Smith International. It is aimed at encouraging participation in modern agriculture for improved productivity and economic diversification.

The stations involved are Liberty Radio/Television, Kaduna, Freedom Radio stations in Kaduna, Kano and Dutse as well as Jigawa State Radio.

In a message, Kelvin Conroy, Team Leader Enable2, observed that the partnership was crucial for farmers in the rural communities, which the radio could penetrate.

Conroy, who was represented at the occasion by the Enable2 Media Portfolio Manager, Mr. Kayode Olanorin, blamed poor information dissemination for most of the problems facing local farmers in the country.

He emphasised that majority of the farmers lived in rural communities and must be served adequate information about innovations in modern agricultural practices.

Conroy said under the agreement, the partner radio stations would be allowed to use the content of Daily Trust’s weekly agric pages known as ‘Golden Harvest’ to develop their agric programmes in the languages understood by farmers in their localities.

This, he said, would help to simplify Daily Trust’s agric content to the farmers, who usually might not be able to read in English or have the purchasing power to get a copy of the newspaper.

He commended the management of Daily Trust for the opportunity and urged the partner radio and TV stations to take full advantage of the arrangement to enrich their agric programmes.

“Getting useful information to farmers in rural and peri-urban areas is an extremely important but difficult task. Daily Trust working with the Northern radio stations have found an innovative and exciting way to do this; leveraging on the strength of Daily Trust reporting and combining it with the local knowledge and large listenership of radio. If listeners can take on the advice contained Golden Harvest over the radio, we could see thousands of more farmers improving their livelihood.” Kevin Conroy said.

At Jigawa State Radio, the Managing Director, Alhaji Mati Ali, said the arrangement would be beneficial to the local farmers in Jigawa State and commended Daily Trust for its effort at developing agriculture in Nigeria.

The Chief Operating Officer of Atar Communications, owners of Liberty Radio/TV, Kaduna, Alhaji Nuhu Ahmed Tahir, assured of his station’s commitment to the full implementation of the agreement in the interest of the station’s rural listeners who, he said, were mostly peasant farmers. 

The acting General Manager of Freedom FM, Dutse, Jigawa State, Garba Ibrahim Tsanyawa, expressed delight over the new arrangement, adding that reproducing the agricultural content of the newspaper into a local language would go a long way in educating the farmers, who, he said, were the targeted audience.

The Station Manager Freedom FM, Kaduna, Mallam Adamu Ladan, directed immediate implementation of the agreement, saying it would help to build technical know-how of the farmers in the rural areas.

While assuring the station’s commitment to the agreement, the acting General Manager, Freedom FM Kano, Adamu Ismail Garki, commended Enable2 and Daily Trust for the initiative and assured its station’s commitment to its success.

Daily Trust’s Agric Editor, Alhaji Hussein Yahaya, who signed on behalf of the newspaper, said the paper would continue to support sincere efforts aimed at developing agriculture in any part of the country.