Jonas Wanvoeke

The power of video to trigger innovation: rice processing in central Benin

Understanding how to stimulate innovation among farmers and processors is crucial for attaining sustainable agriculture. To explore how farmer-to-farmer learning videos and training workshops changed womens rice processing practices, we interviewed 200 women and 17 womens groups in 20 villages in central Benin, including four villages which had received no intervention at all. Video on improved rice parboiling (a process whereby paddy is pre-cooked by steam without touching the water) had reached three times more women (74%) than hands-on training workshops organized by local NGOs and contributed to more equitable knowledge sharing within communities. In the villages where the NGOs had shown the video, 24% of the women started to use the improved parboiler equipment individually and 56% collectively within their group, compared to none in the control villages. About 92% of the women who attended both video and workshops developed creative solutions based on the idea of pre-cooking paddy with steam, compared to 72% for those who learned only through video. Fewer women innovated after learning through workshops only (19%) and after being informed by their peers (15%). Video watching also made women pay attention to reducing the loss of steam and to use local resources innovatively to conserve energy. More than 90% of the women who watched the video improved the quality of their parboiled rice, for example, by removing dirt, washing rice several times and drying rice on tarpaulins. Workshops stimulated innovations less than video did. Farmer-to-farmer video has great potential to enhance sustainable agriculture by encouraging local innovations.

Comparing Farmer-to-Farmer Video with Workshops to Train Rural Women in Improved Rice Parboiling in Central Benin

Abstract This article deals with the comparison of the conventional training based on two day community workshops and farmer-to-farmer video used as methodologies for the dissemination of improved rice parboiling process in Benin. From November 2007 to May 2008, we interviewed 160 women and 17 women groups who had been exposed to both, one or other of the methodologies. Data were analysed using ANOVA and logistic binomial regressions. Video reached more women (74%) than conventional training (27%). The conventional training was biased by participant selection, stakes in per diem payment and monopoly by the elite class. Video helped to overcome local power structures and reduced conflict at the community level. More than 95% of those who watched the video adopted drying their rice on tarpaulins and removed their shoes before stirring the rice, compared to about 50% of those who received traditional training and did not watch the video. Group use of the improved equipment was significantly higher for those who watched the video (p< 0.05). By 2009, the various rice videos had been translated into over 30 African languages by Africa Rice Centre (Africa Rice) partners and involved 500 organizations and over 130,000 farmers. This study helps to give a better understanding of the role that farmer-to-farmer video could play in agricultural extension. This comparative analysis is an opportunity for a better understanding of how farmer-to-farmer video improves farmers’ practices and attitudes in agricultural technology dissemination.

Enhancing rural learning, linkages, and institutions: the rice videos in Africa

Africa Rice Center (WARDA) facilitated the development and translation of 11 rice videos. From 2005 to 2009, WARDA partners translated them into more than 30 African languages. Open-air video presentations enhanced learning, experimentation, confidence, trust, and group cohesion among rural people. The videos strengthened capacities of more than 500 organisations and hundreds of thousands of farmers. WARDAs integrated rural learning approach also helped women to access new markets and credit. Learning videos allow for unsupervised learning; unleash local creativity and experimentation; facilitate institutional innovations; and improve social inclusion of the poor, youth, and women.

Women groups formed in response to public video screenings on rice processing in Benin

When the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice)1 introduced improved parboiling technology in Benin in 2006 through farmer-to-farmer video, it enhanced womens creativity and motivation to parboil more and better the quality of rice. Their rice attracted more buyers and fetched a higher price which increased their profits and strengthened the womens social cohesion. The video motivated women to start parboiling as a group and to express group-based requests for credit and training. However, newly established womens groups in villages with strong negative experiences from the cotton sector did not last because of fear and mistrust. The video helped local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to improve their training methods and strengthened their relations with rural communities and between the women rice processors and input and output markets. Although these NGOs responded by facilitating access to micro-finance institutions, they were unwilling to provide credit to the groups because of past bad experiences. Instead, informal credit suppliers proved more responsive. Rice producers who attended the open-air video shows at the same time as the women rice processors became more willing to sell them rice on credit. We discuss the conditions and challenges of farmer-to-farmer video in creating organizational and institutional changes among service providers and rural entrepreneurs.

Videos Bridging Asia and Africa: Overcoming Cultural and Institutional Barriers in Technology-Mediated Rural Learning.

Abstract Will African farmers watch and learn from videos featuring farmers in Bangladesh? Learning videos on rice seed management were made with rural women in Bangladesh. By using a new approach, called zooming-in, zooming-out, the videos were of regional relevance and locally appropriate. When the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) introduced them to Africa in 2005, many scientists and civil servants thought that the videos would be culturally inappropriate and hence irrelevant to African smallholder farmers. However, African farmers who watched the videos did not experience cultural barriers. In fact, they enjoyed seeing another part of the world where farmers faced similar problems as theirs, and were able to solve these problems by themselves. To promote wider uptake of the videos a key challenge was to overcome the institutional barriers. Public sector agencies especially had to be convinced that African smallholders appreciated Asian videos. By watching the videos with farmers and listening to their feedback, the skeptical scientists and service providers changed their minds. By 2009, the Bangladeshi rice seed videos had been translated into 20 African languages and so became national products. Videos made according to the zooming-in zooming-out approach can bring farmer-to-farmer extension to a higher level of social aggregation.

Participatory impact assessment of rice parboiling videos with women in Benin

SUMMARY Using the sustainable livelihoods framework to evaluate the impact of a farmer-to-farmer video on the improved rice parboiling technology, women in Benin rated financial, social, human, natural and physical capital stocks for the baseline year (2006) and the impact year (2009) on a 0–5 scale. Women who had watched the video and those who had not, but who lived in the same villages, perceived a significant improvement in four out of five livelihood capitals while processors in control villages did not perceive any significant change. Apart from testing the sustainable livelihoods conceptual framework as a participatory impact assessment tool for video-mediated rural learning, this study shows how farmer-to-farmer training videos helped to improve multiple livelihood assets.

30 Innovative and Effective Ways to Enhance Rural Learning in Africa

(eds M.C.S. Wopereis et al.) 367 emerging needs and opportunities. ‘Looking over the fence’ is common practice. For instance, when asked how they decided on what seed to use, rice farmers in northern Ghana said they always assessed their neighbours’ fields throughout the growing season. If a crop outperformed their own or had an attribute of particular interest, farmers would often attempt to acquire some of their successful neighbour’s crop seed to try it out the next season. By that time they are already fairly familiar with its characteristics although they may further test it for yield stability, adaptability and processing traits (in the case of a new variety). Observing the variety regularly in the field and the fact that it has worked for her or his neighbour has given the farmer confidence to test the technology.

Quality farmer training videos to support South–South learning

The Internet and mobile phone services have enabled farmers across developing countries to pro-actively seek information themselves. However, the key problem is little content of relevance. This paper compares two complementary models, namely access agriculture and digital green, that enable farmers’ access to training videos. The paper then elaborates on the Access Agriculture model, as one that supports South–South learning between farmers. Careful attention to content, style and format during video production results in quality videos that are eagerly used by any organisation, TV or radio station. Translated upon demand into any local language, the use of quality training videos is highly cost-effective. Five years after being established, the Access Agriculture video platform hosts over 175 farmer training videos in 75 languages for anyone to view and download for free. About 44% of the nearly 200,000 visitors to the video platform come from Africa, and 23% from Asia. The percentage of people accessing the video platform via their mobile has increased from 30% in 2016 to 42% in 2018. Farmers are the largest professional group registering to the platform to download videos, fact sheets and audio files. Small livestock, vegetable production and food processing are popular topics, appealing to rural women and youth in particular. While smallholder farmers need relevant content, this does not mean that all training materials have to be developed locally. The growing body of evidence of cross-cultural, farmer-to-farmer learning is steadily changing this misperception. Examples are given of cost-recovery and private sector engagement in distributing, selling and showing quality videos hosted on the Access Agriculture platform. The paper ends by providing key lessons learned and challenges to support South–South learning between farmers at a scale previously unseen.