Integration of ICTs in Radio Programs (II-RP) for Environmental Awareness for Peasant Farmers of Rural Zambia

Abstract

The radio was the most and only reliable media capable of disseminating remedial information for methods of curing and preventing the outbreak of animal and crop diseases. However, this mode of media faced the challenges of majority of peasant farmers not owning radios, and as a result, they did not access such services. In addition, the distance among the peasant farmers hindered people sharing such resources. Nevertheless, the mushrooming owning of mobile phones by the majority of peasant farmers made information sharing possible. It was in view of that that the integration of ICTs on radio programs, in this work abbreviated as II-RP, was envisaged to disseminate remedial information to peasant farmers in remote areas of Zambia. The II-RP, a mobile built system, allowed farmers and agriculture officers to share the awareness information and sensitization of methods of farming.