52 radio extension officers trained

Fifty-two radio extension officers on Friday completed their five-day training aimed at bridging the gap in agriculture extension at the Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) in Zomba.

Machinga Agriculture Development Division (ADD) programme manager Getrude Kalinde-Thaulo said the training, under the Farmer Voice Radio (FVR), will help the extension workers to reach out to many farmers.

Currently, the radio, which works in collaboration with several community radio stations and State broadcaster MBC, reaches 1.2 million of the 3.5 million Malawi small-scale farmers.

“With the great need for farmers to get tips from extension workers, training more radio extension workers will help us in the quest to reach all the farmers, not just a percentage,” said Thaulo.

Trained in news gathering, editing and production techniques, the extension workers will help bridge the gap in Malawi’s agro-based economy, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security having about 2 000 extension workers, who are not enough to impart technologies to the farmers.

FVR steering committee chairperson George Jobe said radio extension workers will help impart knowledge to farmers on agriculture technologies.

FVR is entering its second phase, with the funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the American Institutes of Research coming to an end. The radio is going into a sustainability and scalability phase where it is expected to increase listenership.