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Script 61.5

Farm Radio International

A Scientist Respects Farmers’ Wisdom

October 1, 2001
From Package 61: Farmer-Scientist Collaborations
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To achieve food security, it is important for farmers and scientists to collaborate. Working together, scientists can learn exactly what problems farmers
are experiencing and how well their innovations actually work in the field. Farmers get access to useful information, as well as gaining income and
employment opportunities.

Unfortunately, both farmers and scientists sometimes have stereotyped views about one another that can limit contact between them. Radio can play a
part in breaking down such views; it can provide a forum through which farmers and scientists exchange information and engage in dialogue. The
script below uses humor to show how false the stereotyped views can be.
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Please note that the final paragraph of the script refers to Africa and should be changed to reflect circumstances in your region.

Script
Characters

Mr. Chui:
Farmer
Mr. Kazi:
Farmer
Mr. Ndege:
Farmer
Dr. Kulungu Ndege:
Scientist, son of Mr. Ndege

MUSIC (A PLANTING CHANT) FADING INTO BACKGROUND AS ANNOUNCER BEGINS TO SPEAK

Announcer
-Today we are going to listen in on some discussions about scientists and farmers working together. What does this mean? And how this can help
farmers to grow more food? First let’s listen to two farmers, Mr. Chui and Mr. Kazi, as they talk on their way to the weekly market.

Mr. Chui
-I notice that your maize plants are growing well, Kazi.

Mr. Kazi
– Yes, I followed the advice given to me by my neighbor, Ndege. He saw how weak the stalks were during the last planting season. He told me how
he solved the same problem in his own field.

Mr. Chui
– Yes, I remember. Your plants were dying early. What advice did Ndege give?

Mr. Kazi
– He said I was applying the wrong amount of fertilizer. This season I followed his advice and now I believe I am going to get a good harvest.
Mr. Chui
– Yes, Ndege is a wise man who has been farming many years. Experience is always a better teacher than books. I have heard that Ndege’s son is
coming back from the city today. He has become a big scientist and is going to teach us to grow better crops. Imagine! A young man who sits in an
office telling his elders how to farm!

Mr. Kazi
– Yes, educated people think they know everything, just because they no longer eat with their fingers! They should remember that farmers were
growing food long before there were schools and universities.
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MUSIC SURGES UP AND FADES AGAIN AS ANNOUNCER CUTS IN

Announcer
– Now we know what Mr. Chui and Mr. Kazi think of scientists! Do all scientists believe that their knowledge makes them superior? Times are
changing. More and more scientists are now working with farmers to solve the problem of growing more food.
Just by chance, and later the same day, Mr. Ndege and his son the scientist can be found speaking together about this very idea. Farmers and scientists
working together. Let’s listen in …

Mr. Ndege
– My son, you have changed a lot since you left the university. I remember when you came home after you received your degree. You were using big
words and you were impatient to get back to the city. And now, my son, you are working together with the farmers in their fields.

Dr. K. Ndege
– It took some time, but now I am convinced that the lessons farmers have learned through experience are important. Sometimes, I found that the
research in laboratories was teaching us things that farmers have already known for a long time. And sometimes, scientists were coming up with
solutions that would not work in farmers’ fields. We need to combine our efforts.

Mr. Ndege
-How do farmers react to you when you say you want to learn from them?

Dr. K. Ndege
– They are usually surprised. They were used to scientists coming to them to tell them how to farm, not scientists who consider their farmers’
knowledge important. It took some time for them to realize that I was serious. Now we are working together, building on their traditional knowledge.

Dr. K. Ndege
(cont)- Also, after seeing how effective my research has become with the help of the farmers, some of my fellow scientists are changing their minds.
They are even ‘going rural’ by learning to eat with their fingers again! (Both men laugh.)

FADE MUSIC IN AND HOLD UNDER ANNOUNCER

Announcer
-So, scientists have to learn to work with farmers, and farmers have to learn to work with scientists. We need to increase the food produced in Africa:
at the moment, half of the people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have enough food. Cooperation between scientists and farmers is necessary if the
African continent is going to feed all its people.

MUSIC SWELLS UP AND FADES OUT

Acknowledgements
Contributed by Amin Kassam, The Hague, The Netherlands.
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Reviewed by Helen Hambly, Research Officer, International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), The Hague, The Netherlands.

This script also available in:

French

Other scripts in Package 61:

61.1 Farmers Profit from a Budget

61.2 Ekua Makes a Budget
61.3 Farmers Profit from Financial Planning: Three Short Stories
61.4 Farmers and Scientists Harvest Rainwater in India
61.6 Dr. Compost Talks About Compost Piles
61.7 Make Compost in Pits
61.8 Prevent Bird Damage to Crops
61.9 Dr. Compost Answers Questions About Soil Improvement
61.10 Use Manure to Protect Trees from Animals
61.11 Dealing with Rats
61.12 The Work of the Earthworm

Related Scripts:

94.0 Package 94: Participatory Radio Campaigns and agricultural co-operatives

94.1 Issue Pack – African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI)
94.2 Growing fruit trees: A Participatory Radio Campaign in Uganda helps farmers earn income, improve the environment and enhance
household nutrition
94.3 Improved shea butter changes the life of women in the Fana region of Mali
94.4 Effective use of vetiver grass: A participatory radio campaign in Malawi helps farmers keep soil on their fields and money in their pockets

About Farm Radio

Farm Radio International is a Canadian-based, not-for-profit organization working in direct partnership with approximately 600 radio broadcasters in
38 African countries to fight poverty and food insecurity.

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