ASIA/INDIA - A radio station to help farmers in Bundelkhand

Tikamgarh (Agenzia Fides) - Radio Bundelkhand has about 250,000 listeners, of whom 99% are farmers, distributed in ten villages that form Bundelkhand, agricultural region of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. This vast region is inhabited by about 18 million people. According to the Planning Commission of India, the loss of soil fertility, because of climate change and impoverishment of groundwater, has made life very difficult for those who work the land. Most farmers have lost half of the crops due to unexpected heavy rains. The goal of the radio station is to help the most neglected communities to make their voices heard in an area used to receiving bad news. The severe droughts in fact, not only have damaged crops but have also been the cause of many suicides among farmers who have lost their crops. The villages reached by the radio station belong to different States but are all in the Bundelkhand region and share culture, traditions and dialect. About 75% of the programs are dedicated to agricultural issues, such as agricultural techniques, control of pesticides, market prices, climate predictions. Moreover, in this region where blackouts last between 8 and 10 hours and where only 48% of women and 70% of men are literate, the radio is an option of great value compared to television or newspapers. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 01/07/2015)