What Do Farmers Want To Know?
The Grameen Foundation shares some of the findings of their pilot with us (TED Fellows Rose Shuman and Jon Gosier) at Question Box in Uganda. You can find similar data at our sister website http://worldwantstoknow.com.
Between April and September, the hotline received almost 3000 calls from CKWs and our analysis of the questions provides great insight into the questions that are of greatest importance to rural communities. Roughly 2/3 of all questions asked focused on agriculture, with health, education, and news being the next most popular subject areas. Diving deeper into the data we are able to learn more about what, specifically, farmers are asking about agriculture. The following table provides a breakdown of the agriculture-specific questions:
Content area Percentage of calls Example Crop problems related to pests, nutrients, and diseases 42% “What is the cause and control of spotted leaf disease?” “What type of fertilizer should I use in my coffee garden, which is one year old?”
Crop production techniques 15% “Is it OK to intercrop coffee and maize?” Agricultural product prices 12% “What is the price of rice in Bushenyi?” Health problems related to animal husbandry 17% “What is the cause and cure for diarrhea in goats?” Enterprise development for animal husbandry 6% “How do you rear or manage rabbits?” Other 8% No pattern
Posted by Jon Gosier
