Agriculture on the March
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Spreading the word through Community Radio
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Don Pedro recording Agricultura en Marcha
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Juan Pedro Herrera is a popular guy throughout the county town of Yoro and in neighbouring municipalities. His radio show, Agricultura en Marcha, is a hit with farmers who tune in every Thursday across the Yoro mountainsides.
It is one of the few diversions they can count on in a life full of limitations and difficulties. It is a space where they can share experiences, build consciousness on different issues and, at the same time, try to affect decision-making in a sector that has long been marginalized in Honduras.
Juan Pedro is a farmer facilitator with USC’s partner in Honduras, the Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers (FIPAH). Through his work with FIPAH, Juan Pedro helps facilitate the work of farmer research teams (known by the Spanish acronym CIAL), in more than 50 communities in Honduras.
But every Thursday morning, Juan Pedro drives his motorbike 40 minutes from the village of Yorito to Yoro in time to start recording in the afternoon. His show features local music, greetings, and notices, with discussions and interviews designed to broaden the knowledge of farmers; helping them share their experience, practices, and work methods. The goal is to improve local agriculture and, in so doing, raise the quality of life of farmers in Yoro.
Loyal Fans
And it’s popular. Each Thursday afternoon, CIAL members wait impatiently for the show to begin. In the village of Luquigue, Chalin and his mother Trina are sitting glued to their radio waiting for the show to begin. If Juan Pedro doesn’t send them a message in response to their letter, they will be upset.
Rosalio, an experienced CIAL facilitator who was subsequently hired by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), knows that by tuning into the show he will hear about things he has forgotten, and new things the CIALs are currently engaged in, such as fumigating beans with botanical extracts.
In the village of El Panal, Don Pedro listens attentively. He knows that Juan Pedro is going to send instructions for his CIAL, and when Juan Pedro visits next week, he wants to make sure that his group already has the recommendations well underway.
Agricultura en Marcha came into being after the local Jesuit priest, Father Sebastian, invited the Association of CIALs (ASOCIAL) of Yorito, Sulaco, and Victoria – the regional organization of farmer research teams where Juan Pedro lives – to put together a program for Radio Loyola. Most CIAL members were too nervous about the idea of speaking on air, but Juan Pedro and a few of the younger CIAL members jumped at the opportunity. Nevertheless Juan Pedro is the real talent behind the weekly show.
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| Interviewing a fellow farmer |
Community Solutions – in their Own Words
So far the show has covered everything from recipes using soybean – a new crop introduced by the CIALs – to information on new and improved seeds, such as those produced by the CIALs through participatory plant breeding. The show also deals with more complex issues like biodiversity, transgenics, and the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The show awards prizes (small quantities of seeds) to listeners who correctly answer questions put to them by Juan Pedro. Listeners send their answers to the ASOCIAL office, or directly to the radio station in Yoro.
For his part, Juan Pedro conducts interviews with farmers and others for the Thursday show. He says, “The show is designed to promote a continual struggle for agricultural improvement – improvements that are in tune with the environment.” In the space of an hour, listeners can hear all about the work of the CIALs, and FIPAH. They have learned how this program is benefiting their communities and how they can best coordinate with each other.
Given the popularity of the show, Radio Loyola is considering initiating it in other regions of the country where FIPAH is operating. Getting out the results of research conducted by farmers themselves is key to broadening the success of the CIAL program in Honduras.
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was founded by
Dr Lotta Hitschmanova in 1945. Our award-winning Seeds of Survival program promotes vibrant family farms, strong rural communities, and healthy ecosystems around the world.
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