Media’s Role in Enhancing Sustainable Development in Zambia

Abstract

The dual pressures of climate change and population growth in Africa make enhancing sustainable development an important focus of initiatives hoping to reach as many people as possible with appropriate innovations. Resource and infrastructure challenges often limit the ability of programs to expand through the use of extension and other forms of in-person training. Although media such as radio, television, and mobile phones cannot replace the value of interpersonal communication, they can offer a low-cost alternative for reaching large audiences in even some of the most remote regions. With the increasing use of media for sustainable development come questions relating to the ability of these channels to move beyond a one-way flow of information to include and respond to local knowledge and experiences and to create dialogue, both farmer to farmer and between farmers and designers of educational messaging. This article evaluates the role of media in promoting sustainable agriculture in Zambia. Specifically, the findings present qualitative feedback from 34 smallholder farmers targeted by Community Markets for Conservation’s current radio programming efforts around sustainable agriculture. Results demonstrate the centrality of the radio program alongside other forms of communication, such as extension and farmer-to-farmer communication, as well as written and visual communication. These findings consider direct and indirect exposure to these efforts and the importance of radio in offering a foundation for dialogue and increased social diffusion of sustainable innovations in remote regions.