TRAINING videos shown communally may be the most effective way to pass on new technologies and techniques to women farmers, a programme in west Africa suggests.
Paul Van Mele of the in Cotonou, Benin, headed a study in which farmers 鈥� most of them women 鈥� were shown how to parboil raw rice by steaming it rather than boiling it, making it more nutritious and easier to mill. In some villages, the farmers were invited to watch a training video, while in others they were invited to training workshops.
The team found that uptake of the parboiling technique by women who watched the video was 72 per cent, compared with just 19 per cent by those who attended a conventional workshop with a scientist or non-governmental organisation worker (International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, ).
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Van Mele believes that showing the video also helps to democratise access to knowledge beyond the usual village elites. In villages where the video was shown communally, 74 per cent of women attended, while just 22 per cent attended traditional workshops. 鈥淭he videos were shown in the village in the early evening, so anyone could attend,鈥� says Van Mele.
Importantly, the main storytellers in the videos were fellow women rice farmers, not 鈥渙utsider scientists鈥�, so viewers trusted their message. Also, the videos were designed to make the principles of the technique obvious, says Van Mele, and 67 per cent of the women who couldn鈥檛 afford the equipment created it themselves 鈥� for example, by using beds of sticks to separate the rice and water. 鈥淲hen they understood that rice shouldn鈥檛 touch the water, they provided their own solutions,鈥� he says.
Following its success in Benin, the video has been translated into 20 African languages. Five additional rice-related videos have been produced, and videos are planned for other crops, including potatoes, Van Mele adds.
