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Formative Assessment Report: Business Organization and Radio Station Marketing and Sustainability

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Formative Assessment Report: Business Organization and Radio Station Marketing and Sustainability This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), www.idrc.ca. Formative Assessment Report: Business Organization and Radio Station Marketing and Sustainability June 2017 Achieving Impact at Scale Project Acknowledgements Farm Radio International expresses its profound gratitude to all persons and parties who made this report possible. We appreciate the participation of every respondent and the invaluable information and insight they contributed to the understanding of facts discovered during the research period. Further appreciations are extended to the International Development Research Centre for funding the Achieving Impact at Scale project. List of Abbreviations AIS Achieving Impact at Scale CEO Chief Executive Officer FM Frequency Modulation FRI Farm Radio International GHC Ghana Cedis GM General Manager IDRC International Development Research Centre- Canada ICT Information Communication and Technology List of Tables Table 1: respondent’ breakdown Table 2: Types of radio stations interviewed Table 3: Number and percentage of FRI partner radio stations interviewed Table 4: response by business organizations on the criteria for approval to support a new market- oriented agricultural program Table 5: responses by radio stations as to why their agricultural radio programs are not able to attract advertisers or sponsorship Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.0 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Research Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 4 2.0 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Data collection sources/ Participants ........................................................................................... 5 2.2 Data collection tools ..................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Data processing and analysis ........................................................................................................ 5 3.0 Findings and Discussion .................................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Business Organizations structured Interviews .............................................................................. 5 3.2 Radio Station structured Interviews ............................................................................................. 7 3.3 Business Organizations structured Interview findings.................................................................. 8 3.4 Radio Station structured Interview findings ............................................................................... 13 4.0 Summary and Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 17 5.0 Appendices ...................................................................................................................................... 18 Appendix 1: List of organizations interviewed ........................................................................................ 18 Appendix 2: List of radio stations interviewed ....................................................................................... 21 Appendix 3: Questionnaire for business interviews ............................................................................... 22 Appendix 4: Questionnaire for radio station interviews ........................................................................ 23 1.0 Background The access to agricultural extension services by smallholder/low-income farmers in Ghana is highly inadequate. As such, many smallholder/low in-come farmers have little or no access to information which could help them improve upon their agricultural practices, or help them find new and innovative ways to diversify their farming to maximize yield and improve their income. Radio is an excellent and cost-effective means of sharing knowledge, creating awareness, facilitating informed decision-making and supporting the adoption of innovative agricultural practices by smallholder farmers. Radio regularly reaches at least seventy per cent (70%) of rural households; it is affordable, accessible to those without formal education, it can use local languages and it can give voice to end-users. It is a preferred source for health, nutritional and agricultural information for the large majority of smallholder/low-income farmers. Base on this premise, International Development Research Centre (Canada) IDRC, funded Farm Radio International in collaboration with Grameen Foundation and other partners are using their expertise in radio-based and ICT interventions and strategies to help smallholder/low-income farmers in selected districts of Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Volta regions. The two main objectives for this project are to: 1. Identify sustainable models for providing enhanced extension services to smallholders in Ghana and other countries where farmers receive minimal effective government extension; and 2. Assess whether a third party provider (long-term business owner) can sustain a process that uses direct-to-farmer channels and human agent networks to generate and realize economic value for private agribusiness clients and the smallholders they source from. In order to solicit the interest and willingness of long –term business owners and radio station management teams to support and sustain the radio program, FRI, conducted this survey. The process engaged in carrying-out this survey and the findings are presented in this report. Research Objectives As typical of most formative research designs, this research was conducted as a prior initiative to inform FRI about the willingness and interest of possible business-owners and radio station management to support, sponsor and sustain the development and broadcast extension information to help farmers to improve on their farming practices which eventually lead to increase yield and better livelihood. 2.0 Methodology This survey adopted a quantitative approach to collect data for analysis and decision making related to the objectives of the AIS project. A team of eight (8) researchers from the Farm Radio International Ghana Office, (see appendix 2 for details) were involved in this survey. The team interviewed business owners, managers and directors from the project districts and regions. Research tools were pre-tested before application and the data collected was analyzed using Excel and other relevant data processing mechanisms. 2.1 Data collection sources/ Participants Participants were purposively sampled from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions of Ghana, particularly in the project implementing districts. A total of 40 participants were involved the business survey and 27 radio stations were surveyed. 2.2 Data collection tools The main data collection tools were pre-tested key informant interviews (KIIs) using structured multiple- choice based questionnaire programmed onto the Mobenzi survey tool. 40 participants were interviewed for business organization and 27 radio stations were interviewed for radio media. 2.3 Data processing and analysis Both business organizations and radio stations interviews were analyzed using Microsoft Excel software. Patterns generated were then analyzed for the writing of this report. 3.0 Findings and Discussion 3.1 Business Organizations structured Interviews A total of 40 business organizations participated in the Key informant interviews with Mobenzi survey tool in the three regions (Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Volta). Respondents were 80% (32) male and 20% (8) female. Fifteen per cent (4) of the respondents were youth (<35), 85% were non-youth (>35). The business organizations were divided into four categories: input supplier (40%), buyer/aggregator (5%), development intermediary (10%), and other allied business (financial/credit institutions) (45%). Each participant was asked a series of questions exploring their business type and model. The purpose of the survey was to determine the feasibility of the business organization funding Agricultural Radio Programming. (See appendix 1 for list of organization interviewed) Figure 1: Gender breakdown of business respondents Female 20% Male 80% Figure 2: Age breakdown of business respondents Youth (<35) 15% Non-youth (>35) 85% Table 1: Respondent breakdown for business interviews Category Number of respondents Ashanti Region 4 Brong Ahafo Region 16 Volta Region 20 Overall 40 Males 32 Females 8 Youth (<35) 6 Figure 3: Business organizations surveyed Input Supplier Other allied business 40% 45% Development Buyer/aggregator intermediary 5% 10% 3.2 Radio Station structured Interviews A total of 27 radio stations were surveyed with the Mobenzi mobile survey tool in the three regions (Ashanti,
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