Faria Rashid, MSc candidate from the School of Environmental
Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph (Canada), visited Rangiri
Radio Station, Sri Lanka in October 2015 to understand innovation in farm radio
in Sri Lanka.
Rangiri Radio staff has been collaborating with the
project titled “Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture” where open
source software and mobile technologies are tested. The project is led by
University of Alberta (Canada) and partners with University of Wayamba (Sri
Lanka). Various technologies (Frontline SMS, Freedom Fone, etc.) were tested by
Rangiri to support programming such as “Call – in” audience response programs,
multiple text messaging and voice recorded messages.
Faria also discussed feedback from the Rangiri Radio
technicians and broadcasters about the farm radio program and further
opportunities to use mobile technologies and open source software. Radio+
combines radio with new ICTs enabling radio and agricultural communities to
create innovations such as rapid relay of information about sustainable farming
to listeners. She discovered that open software such as Freedom Fone and Frontline
SMS make the radio program more popular to farmer listeners. Rangiri Radio staff
mentioned that after using the open source software in their farm program, responses
from farmer listeners increased dramatically. The main strength of this
experience for understanding ICT-enabled radio or “Radio+” is that it creates a
strong communication relation as well as a multi-media connection between
agricultural experts and farmers. Radio+ enhances farm radio programs. Farmers can
get their problems solved quickly and easily by accessing important information
from agricultural experts when they ask questions through the open source
software channels.
Faria and the rest of the project team greatly
appreciate the work of Rangiri Radio and their support to make
this visit successful.
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