All India Radio Farm & Home Programmes in the Progress of Agriculture in India

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Broadcasting started in India in 1927 with two privately owned transmitters at Mumbai and Calcutta. All India Radio came in to existence in1936 and came to be known as ‘Akashvani’ form 1957

The mission of AIR is to Produce and Transmit programmes relating to developmental activities in all their facets including extension work in agriculture, education, health and family welfare and science & technology.

All India Radio Farm & Home Broadcasts:

The commitment of All India Radio to the rural audience dates back to more than 50 years. Realizing the contribution of radio towards reaching new agricultural technologies to farmers of United States of America in 1966, the then Union Minister of Agriculture BharatRatna C. Subramaniam played an instrumental role in introducing Farm & Home Units at seven All India Radio (AIR) stations in the country. This marked the beginning of a new era of farm broadcasting in India. All India Radio has been dedicated to the service of farming community since the very beginning of its 'Farm and Home Unit' in 1966

The Farm&Home Programmes were started with a view to serve the farming community by motivating them through sustained broadcasts, to adopt and practice scientific methods of cultivation, for increasing Food Production and Rural Economic Development. Broadcasting scenario has distinctly changed from time to time with AIR stations covering nearly 99% of the country’s population.

 All stations of All India Radio broadcast Farm & Home programmes directed at rural audience. In fact, special programmes have been designed to cater to the day to day seasonal needs of the farming community. To broadcast the latest technology and information for agricultural output is a continuous process of its Farm & Home programme. Farm and Home programmes are broadcast by all stations of AIR. Programmes are designed based on the local day to day needs of the farming community incorporating latest information and technology for best agricultural output. These programmes create awareness about the ways & means to improve the agricultural productivity and quality of the country’s farming community

The programmes are broadcast daily in the morning, noon and evening. The average duration of Farm & Home broadcast is 60 to 100 minutes per day. Farm & Home programmes also include programmes for rural women, rural children and rural Youth..

The farm programmes are having many programme formats. Talk, interviews, discussions, dialogues, symposia, debates, farm based poetry recitations, features, radio reports, question and answer programmes, skits, quiz, jingles, farmers and experts group discussions, kavimela are the popular programmes .

 At present programmes are broadcast for duration of one hour per day which covers Agriculture and allied subjects, and the subjects are distributed according to the need to various Departments during every Quarter (Three months). The subjects for broadcast are drawn up after discussion with specialists from the concerned Departments.

Apart from the programme production the farm and home radio units are conducting seminars and exhibitions at AIR Auditorium for farmers which have immensely helped the farmers in food production. Farmers have participated and have gained knowledge and various aspects of farming. These seminars and meetings have been planned and conducted with the help of various state Government Departments and Universities. The advice and suggestions given by the experts and scientists in these seminars have been very useful to the farmers and they have been able to adopt them in their farming operations which ultimately resulted in increasing farmers in the respective areas depending on the season and monsoon.

 Farm and Home Programmes are giving great importance to the farmer participation in these programmes. In Crop yield competition, winners, elite farmers, F.D.G. Conveners, Seed farm growers, farmers have also been interviewed and have expressed their opinions about their field experiences. In addition, the farmers facilitated to visit All India Radio Station to meet the programme officer in charge of Agriculture to discuss their problems and the officer brings these problems to the notice of the concerned Departmental Heads and Scientist and seeks their help to solve the problems of the farmers. Every week farmers contacting the Farm & Home unit either in person or through letters or through telephone to get clarifications on various technical aspects of farming and they have been utilizing the knowledge gained in getting a better harvest. Regular village meetings are arranged by the Farm & Home Unit at various centers in various districts between groups of farmers and officials and scientists.

The farmer after having listened to Farm & Home Unit’s programmes on waste land development, Integrated Pest Management, Utilization of Pesticides, Agro based industries, Organic farming etc. have been following the guidelines given in the programmes and have been instrumental in preserving the environment. They have also now started making use of the new technology called “Mixed Farming”.

From the day of inauguration, this Farm & Home Units are conducting Farm School on the AIR lessons for the benefit of farmers. It is to be pointed out that farmers who have participated in various Farm School broadcast have now become beacon lights in various farming activities like Turkey farming, poultry farming, organic farming & Water Management. The farm school broadcast has been very successful as it helps the farmers to gain the latest technical knowledge and information on various subjects and ultimately helps to develop their skill in their farming operations and to become successful farmers. The Farm & Home broadcast is greatly helping the farmers in increasing their food production and improving their living

Farm & Home Programmes playing vital role in the production of Rice, Sugarcane and Oil seeds. After listening and following the guidelines of Farm & Home broadcast, Farmers, the rural women who are engaged in the production and sales of agricultural based value add products have certainly improved their life style.

The Farm & Home units of AIR broadcast composite programmes including equal segments of rural development scheme and hard-core agriculture programmes like animal husbandry, fisheries, dry land and wasteland agriculture and also on segments dwelling on employment schemes, loan and training facilities, sanitation, health hygiene and nutrition etc. 

 From the day it was started, the farm & home programmes of AIR were felt to be enormously powerful and effective to realize the objective of the betterment of farming community. AIR has played a significant part in bringing new technology in agriculture to the door. These programmes not only provide information about agriculture but also create awareness about the ways and means to improve the quality of farmer’s lives.

The phenomenal growth achieved by A.I.R. Farm broadcasts played a vital role in the green revolution

AIR -KISAN VANI

AIR has stepped up its activities of Agriculture Broadcast with the launch of exclusive project Mass Media Support to Agriculture Extension with the title Kisan Vani for AIR from 15th February, 2004 in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture. To inform local farmers the daily market rates, weather reports and day to day activities in their area at micro level. Presently, "Kisan Vani" is being broadcast from 96 FM stations of AIR.

Now all the Local Radio Stations (LRS) of All India Radio along with some primary channel stations spread over the length and breadth of the country have been producing and broadcasting Kisanvani Programme.

The thrust of Kisanvani Programme is to educate the farmers on the subjects such as diversified cropping pattern, advance agricultural practices, animal husbandry, poultry farming, fisheries, horticulture, rural banking & self employment schemes and other allied activities.

Kisanvani encompasses a wide spectrum of formats having almost all the ingredients of a good agriculture programme, like 'Aaj ki Khabrein' (news of the day), 'Aaj Ka Bazar'(today's market), 'Aaj ka Mausam' (weather information), 'Aaj Ki Batein' (special mention of the day), 'Aaj Ke Kisan' (the farmer of today, interview based) and 'Desh Videsh' news from the country and abroad). Moreover, it is different from the conventional Farm and Home Programme of AIR in its approach and focus. Kisanvani Programmes are being broadcasting all the major languages and dialects spoken in the coverage area. Kisanvani programme was slowly but steadily spreading among new audience over years

Radio Kisan Diwas

AII India Radio observes 15th February as Radio Kisan Diwas over all its stations by mounting special programmes on the occasion. Farmers who get benefited by the information disseminated through agricultural programmes on AIR, share their experiences with other fellow farmers in their regional language/dialect.

AIR-KRISHI JAGAT

Indian Council of Agricultural Research signed a contract with Prasar Bharti, All India Radio for dissemination of agricultural technologies to various stakeholders by using a dedicated time slot at 7:05 – 7:30 pm on every Friday. The radio programme is available on Indraprastha Channel for listeners on MW 819 KHtzs i.e. 366.3 mts. across the country.

This radio programme, Krishi Jagat includes features, success stories, and discussion forum, on agricultural research, education and extension by involving scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs and policy makers from different fields.

All India Radio stations in Andhra Pradesh and Agricultural Programmes.

The AIR Stations in AP are facilitating to disseminate agricultural information to large number of farmers. Vyavasaya Samacharam a ten-minute duration programme on every day from 6.50 to 7.00 PM is broadcasted on Hyderabad station on different topics and the same is relayed by all the other Radio Stations in the entire State.

Besides this, the scientists participate in the interviews on Radio and answer to the farmer's letters. The University scientists are also participating in the Phone-in-live programmes conducted by different All India Radio stations across the State.

All India Radio stations are broadcasting the questions and answers sent to them in their agriculture programmes every week.

The AIR Stations broadcast weather base agricultural information twice a week for the benefit of farmers. It also gives special messages at the time of floods, droughts, pest and disease outbreaks etc.

Conclusion:

Broadcasts provide the first hand information to the Farmers about new crops, latest research, Water management pest management and other new technologies. It acts as a Connecting link between Farmers, Departmental officials & Scientists Provided that Radio support to the various schemes taken up by the Governments from time to time. Programme contributes in the promotion of Agriculture Food Production and development of Agricultural economy in the state. Broadcasts Lab to Land programme educates the poorest of the poor systematically on various aspects of Agricultural Science & Allied subjects. It plays an active role in promoting progress in the areas of Green, White, and Blue & Red Revolutions. Microphone travels to the nook and corner of villages and unreachable tribal villages

 All India Radio provides extensive programmes on land and water conservation, sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, integrated pest management in crops, crop insurance schemes, environment protection, disaster management and role of panchayats in rural development etc. These programmes are produced with the help of subject matter experts.

All India Radio maintains a very close liaison with the Ministries and Departments of agriculture & rural development of central and state governments. The programmes are mounted in local and dialect from different stations. Local Radio Stations also broadcast regular programmes on rural development in different formats. Dialogues, discussions, talks, interviews, features, serials, dramas, slogans, jingles, phone-in-programmes, musical features and farm school on AIR etc. are used to convey the message through radio.

For creating environmental consciousness among the listeners on preservation of environment through development of forests, a forestation, social forestry, farm forestry etc. special programmes are broadcasted in an interesting and imaginative ways. All AIR Stations are broadcasting these programmes in their local languages in different formats like talks, discussions, features, current affairs information items, spots, serials etc. All the AIR Stations are broadcasting a daily programme on Environment for 5 to 7 minutes duration and a weekly programme of longer duration for more than a decade.

All India Radio has adopted a multilingual approach for its broadcasts of programmes on environment, forestry, wildlife and ecological balance etc. World day to combat desertification is also observed by AIR stations every year to create awareness about land degradation and desertification. . In view of its importance, cultivating awareness about wildlife and forest conservation is treated by AIR as a challenge and emphasis is given on developmental activities.

References:

·       All India Radio - National Portal of India

·       Role of Farm and Home Radio Programme in the Development of Agriculture- Maa. Thamizhpparithi & Dr.R.Subramani

·       Media support to agriculture; Grace Kujur, M.N. Jha B.N. Chaudhary, D.C. Kabdal, V.S. Deepkumar, R.C. Singh, P.A. DeshmukhTop of Form

·       Spl.Audience Programs - All India Radio

·       ICAR Report.

·       A History of All India Radio and Its Operations-Srividya Vaidyanathan

·       ANGARU-AIR Agricultural Programmes.

·       DEVELOPMENT OF MASS MEDIA AND ITS EXTENSION IN AGRICULTURE: Proggya Ghatak