All India Radios (AIR), Dharwad Station plans to start a monthly magazine on farming to help farmers emerge out of the current crisis.
Dharwad (Karnataka) Aug.30 : All India Radio's (AIR), Dharwad Station plans to start a monthly magazine on farming to help farmers emerge out of the current crisis.
C. U. Bellakki, the assistant station director with the AIR in Karnataka's Dharwad District, has invited agricultural experts, writers and farmers to use the medium of the magazine to project the farmers' plight.
He made this offer at a recent two-day workshop here.
Bellakki said that there was major scope, considering the high reach of the audio media.
He told the audience that the AIR needs good stories which will have an impact on the farming community. A farm programme on radio can never be a success if it is designed and delivered inside the studio.
Bellakki said: "A programme touches listeners only when it is created in the field with practical inputs. Journalists should pick up such stories from the field and disseminate it to a larger audience."
He said that a good example of positive reporting by the media was Chennabasappa Shivappa Kombli of Natural Resources Development Centre in Haveri District's Kakol Village.
Kombli's efforts as a farmer to recharge open wells through rainwater harvesting in his village was reported in various stages by newspapers. This, in turn, helped him to get the support of villagers and carry such activities forward.
His effort was recognised at the State level and resulted in the overall development of the village including roads, hostels, a high school building and Suvarna Grama (village) projects.
Nearly 100 villages around Kakol Village in Ranebennur sub-division have adopted a ground-water recharge method that has helped in a better water availability, increased soil fertility and forestation. It could happen all because of wide and consist media coverage.
Besides, the workshop also provided the participants hands-on experience in visiting 'Sumana Sangama', the farmland of Dr Sanjeev Kulkarni and Pratibha, which is a mix of cultivated, semi-cultivated and non-cultivated farm land.
This organic farm which Dr Sanjeev developed from scratch is now a biodiversity spot and suited the objective of the workshop.
Positive reporting on issues related to farming can work wonders to help the farmers. Farmers' Plight-Media Response, a recent workshop held in Dharwad underlined just that, writes Anitha Pailoor.
Even when farming is in crisis, hope is not lost. Alongside the suicide stories we also hear successful examples of farmers practicing sustainable methods. Exposure to such models would boost the morale of those who are in distress. Media can bridge the gap between stories of success and failure.
The magazine opens up another media space for the farm writers of the Centre for Alternative Agriculture Media (CAAM) who converged at Dharwad.
The Fellows and students of Centre for Alternative Agriculture Media correspondence (CAAM) course in farm and rural journalism use the print media to write on farm and rural issues.
Their eagerness to use multiple media for wider reach and repetitive message delivery combined with the AIR's social concern to provide for additional space on the radio in reporting farm and rural issues.
Well researched articles on such small-scale, positive efforts would enable other farmers to take up sustainable farming in their lands. Lack of understanding of their problems by the administrators has led to the failure of most farmer packages.
The participants at the workshop, meanwhile, also had an opportunity to interact with experienced personalities like Dr. Ramachandra Sonwalkar, R. S. Patil and Dr. Prakash Bhat.
ANI