Radio Terra FM brings farming advice, market news, and environmental information to last-mile farmers who rarely receive extension services. The station explains the complexities of the Albertine region. It covers issues from health and food security to conflict management. To do this, it uses environmental education, promotes basic rights, and shares Indigenous culture.
In the long term, the station aims to use community radio as a testing ground for community-based development. This model is built around the needs and rights of civil society, and it follows ecofeminist principles.
Radio Terra FM’s mandate draws on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Rural People. Article 15 states that “peasants and other rural workers have the right to adequate food and the fundamental right to be free from hunger.” In addition, Article 11 recognizes their right “to seek, receive, develop, and disseminate information,” including on factors that affect the production and marketing of their products.
The KILIMO program for farmers
“Kilimo” is the Kiswahili word for farming. It is also the name of the flagship farmers’ program on Terra FM, which airs every Monday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The program offers free agricultural extension services and advice on pests and diseases. It also gives farmers a space to ask questions and share feedback. Qualified agronomists from government and local communities lead the program. Their advice reaches farmers who live too far away to receive help from government agencies or NGOs.
Through its broadcasts, Radio Terra FM promotes climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agriculture around Lake Albert. Daily programs cover farm management, environmental protection, and market access. They reach more than 5 million listeners in Uganda and the DR Congo, many of them smallholder farmers. The programs also help farmers’ groups build leadership skills and take part in public dialogue.
Radio Terra FM broadcasts in several local languages, including Lugungu, Runyoro, Lingala, Swahili, and Alur. Its programs target farmers in Uganda and northeastern DR Congo. As a result, last-mile farmers are improving their farming practices and learning about markets, which can raise their incomes.
Health information on air
The station also shares public health information. It promotes disease prevention through behavior change education and links listeners to health facilities. According to health officials who present programs on the station, malaria and stomach infections have fallen by nearly 50 percent among smallholder farmers in its coverage area.
Conservation, agriculture, and livelihoods
The Albertine Rift in the DR Congo and Uganda is a world-renowned biodiversity hotspot. It is home to endangered wildlife such as eastern chimpanzees, African elephants, and pangolins. However, farming is pushing into forest reserves, causing habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict.
Crop yields are too low to secure local food needs. Moreover, a lack of value addition and market growth limits farming’s economic contribution. Farmers are also highly exposed to climate change, including shifting rains, floods, and pests. As crop losses grow, their tolerance for wildlife is falling.
Poor soil management and climate variability are pushing yields down. Consequently, farmers clear and burn more forest, and plant on wetlands, to grow the same amount of food. Farmers around Lake Albert know forests are a safety net in times of drought and hunger. Yet poverty makes it hard for them to stop using resources that are also vital habitat for threatened species.
How Radio Terra FM supports last-mile farmers
The media plays a key role in responding to these risks. It informs and educates, sparks dialogue, and shares solutions. It can also help people adapt and build resilience.
Radio Terra FM produces news bulletins, interactive discussions, features, in-depth stories, short spots, and awareness campaigns. Topics include climate-smart agriculture, conservation, tree planting, market access, and weather forecasts. Testimonies from vulnerable groups link these issues to daily life and empower listeners to drive change.
Its programs and debates bring together farmers, fishers, political leaders, civil society, and businesses. In total, they reach an annual audience of more than 5 million listeners.
The station’s farming and climate work focuses on several core activities:
- Programs on fighting global warming and moving toward green economies around Lake Albert, in languages rural people understand.
- Environmental education, tree planting, climate-smart agriculture, and campaigns to protect degraded land and forests.
- A food security and healthy nutrition program.
- Extension advice on best farming practices, including agroecology, and mobilizing farmers against illegal land sales, forced evictions, and land grabbing.
- Guidance on diversifying into coffee, aquaculture, oilseeds, and livestock, with a focus on soil fertility and resilience, plus village listening groups where farmers share lessons.
- Campaigns against illegal wildlife trafficking, poaching, and trade in endangered species.
Results for farmers and communities
There is clear evidence that people now better understand these challenges. Many are motivated to find ways to adapt and protect the ecosystems they depend on. Political leaders, civil society, and businesses are also starting to take part in local solutions.
In addition, a culture of dialogue and solidarity is growing as people share ideas and know-how. Farmers around Lake Albert report better yields and incomes. They also have better access to farming information, weather updates, and market prices. Above all, smallholders now have a voice on the issues that affect their work and lives.
Technical challenges facing the station
Despite its achievements, Radio Terra FM faces technical obstacles. The biggest is unreliable power. There is no grid electricity where the station is located, so it sometimes loses power for two or three days. Generators and backup batteries often fail because of poor charging.
Hot, dry, and dusty conditions shorten the life of generators, and poor-quality fuel adds wear and tear. Temperatures can reach 40 degrees Celsius for much of the year, overheating equipment, while dust quickly damages it. Spare parts are hard to find in local markets.
In the rainy season, dirt roads become impassable for long periods. As a result, repairs and deliveries are delayed, and moving equipment is costly and slow.
Skilled maintenance engineers are also scarce. The station has no on-site engineer and relies on remote support and quarterly visits from Arua, Kampala, Nairobi, and the United States. If equipment fails and the local team cannot fix it, the station may stay off air for days.
Environmental Defenders is therefore exploring solutions. We invite partners and colleagues to support us with radio engineering expertise, energy solutions, and ideas to keep the station on air. Learn about the Kilimo Prize, inspired by the KILIMO program.