Radio in Farm Development

India’s post-independence experiments with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use in agricultural development started with the radio. The basic elements of using radio were:

1. Establish All India Radio Stations located in various parts of the country that broadcasts agricultural programs in a regional language through medium wave radio which have a range of 100-150 km in radius
2. Enable rural communities to receive radio broadcasts through radio sets provided by the Government to village panchayats (village level self governance institutions)
3. Generate content such as radio talks, interviews with subject matter specialists and farmer-listeners, question and answer sessions using cheap post cards etc., through linkages of radio stations with State Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Departments

Commercialization of one channel gave a boost for the proliferation of the medium wave radio network and, along with it, receivers in many rural areas. Radio software or content for agricultural and rural development continued to remain a contentious issue but was alleviated to some extent with the national thrust and greater investment in agricultural research and extension for self-sufficiency in food production. The State Agricultural Universities played a major role through scientific and technical support for the program content. Capacity building for using radio in agricultural extension was a training component in all graduate degree programs. This built strength in using radio for agricultural development in state agricultural departments. Regional radio stations broadcasting in local languages significantly overcame the language issue in a country that has 18 official languages and hundreds of dialects.

All India Radio since independence has grown to have 208 Radio Stations. The network of 332 with 149 Medium Wave and 128 Frequency Modulated transmitters provides radio coverage to a population of 98.82% spread over 89.51% area of the country. All the broadcasting centres have been networked through satellite for the relay of National and Regional programmes. The stations of All India Radio together broadcast more than 9000 farm and home programmes directed to rural audience. Farm and home units function at most of the All India Radio Stations. There are more rural radios than in urban areas. However, India, in spite of all its experience in radio and its needs for accelerating rural development, has not truly used “rural” radio or the potential of the FM radio for rural development. Primarily the constraint has been politics and policy. 

Every government, including the present, in its 56 years of independence has promised as an election pledge to free the airways and failed to do so.

Community radio has in recent times, however, started finding roots with several initiatives such as VOICES, AID, MANA Radio, Deccan Development Society and the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (Kutch Women’s Progress Cooperative). Most of these initiatives are partnerships with the State’s All India Radio. It has only been a few months since educational Institutions have been permitted to develop their own radio broadcasting stations with a range up to 25 km. There have been very few takers to it.

An interesting experiment though very limited in range in using HAM Radio for extension is underway in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.