Az Dekhon ba Dekhon (Farmer to Farmer): A participatory radio series for private farmers in Tajikistan

by Armorer Wason

in collaboration with the Communication for Development Group
Extension, Education and Communication Service
FAO Research, Extension and Training Division

Farmers in Tajikistan have only recently begun to farm with a measure of independence from the state and collective farms of the Soviet era. They face enormous challenges: breakdown of the rural Soviet infrastructure, lack of effective structures to support private farming, lack of finance, endemic corruption, poor rule of law, and during 2000 and 2001 very severe drought. Moreover, there has been almost no discussion in the media of the real problems they face. Farmers do not have reliable sources of information, even on the most basic, uncontroversial, technical aspects of farming.

The radio series Farmer to Farmer aims, despite the very considerable constraints, to respond to the concerns and questions of private farmers through interviews with farmers and a range of agricultural experts. It is broadcast once a week as part of Tajik Radio's lunchtime programme for rural listeners, and then repeated in the evening. Initially, programmes were fifteen minutes in length, but programmes now run for twenty to twenty-five minutes.

With support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC), the local office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) manages the production of the radio series. This is part of a larger project, based in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, which trains veterinarians, supports veterinary services, and distributes seeds. The Project Co-ordinator and national staff have close links with the Ministry of Agriculture, which supports the project.

The series is transmitted throughout the country by Tajik Radio. It is a significant departure for Tajik Radio, which has never broadcast an independently produced radio series before.

The target group of private farmers refers to 'dekhon farmers' -- those that have a measure of leasehold security -- and to small-scale and subsistence farmers who farm household plots, some of which were increased in size through the Presidential land programme. It was also intended that programmes would benefit a wider group of agricultural workers who rent land from collective and state farms, some of which have been privatised, and those who continue to work within state farming. It was further conceived that occasional programme materials might be included on issues of importance to the rural population as a whole, such as health issues.

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