Notes to broadcasters
This script captures the experiences of farmers who grow beans in central Uganda.
Growing beans has many benefits, including:
Nutrition and food security: Common beans contain a lot of protein, micronutrients such as iron and zinc, and are rich in vitamins. The young leaves and the bean are both edible. The average Ugandan eats up to 19 kg of beans per year.
Livestock: Crop residues are a good livestock feed.
Livelihood: There is a ready market for common beans in Uganda and neighbouring countries.
Benefits to the soil: Common bean is a good source of nitrogen for the soil because of its ability to fix nitrogen from the air. Leaving the roots in the soil after harvest results in an extra 20-60 kg of nitrogen per hectare in the soil, which is available for the next crop. This is the equivalent of ¾-2 free bags of urea, and can give the next crop a very good boost. As a cover crop, common bean can help prevent soil erosion.
Yield: With good agricultural practices, including good soil preparation, using fertilizers if required, using good seeds, and planting seed at 30-40 kg/acre, common bean can yield over 800 kg/acre.
The main focus of this script is managing pests and diseases in beans, and it also covers farming practices which are specific to beans.
You could use this script as inspiration to research and write a script on proven ways to fight pests and diseases in beans or other crops in your area. Or you might choose to produce this script on your station, using voice actors to represent the speakers. If so, please make sure to tell your audience at the beginning of the program that the voices are those of actors, not the original people involved in the interviews.
If you choose to use this script as background material or as inspiration for creating your own program, you might consider the following questions:
- What are the most common pests and diseases of beans in your area? What can farmers do to manage them and reduce the damage they cause? Apart from using pesticides, what methods are available to manage pests and diseases?
- Are there any resistant bean varieties? If so, can farmers access them? What have been the results when farmers plant them? (Talk to both men and women farmers)
Apart from speaking directly to farmers and other key players in the local agriculture sector, you could also use these questions as the basis for a phone-in or text-in segment in your regular farmer program. You could also invite farmers and other stakeholders to the studio for a discussion panel. The panel could also take place on-location in a village.
Estimated running time for this script, with intro and extro is about 20 minutes.
There’s no doubt that beans are one of the biggest staple foods in Uganda. Some families eat beans for lunch and supper almost every day of the year. Season in and season out, beans are on every farmer’s list of crops to plant. I think it’s safe to say that there is hardly any food in this country that provides us with more protein. So it’s really important that we find ways to manage pests and diseases that attack beans.
I visited a few bean farmers in the new district of Kyotera, thirty kilometres from Masaka, to learn about managing pests and diseases. The first farmer I met was 24-year-old Katambala Aloysius from Nsege village, in Lwankoni sub-county.
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(TO AUDIENCE) I left Nsege and took a bodaboda to Kayanja village, 20 kilometres away. Here I met Nabajja Jema, a 52-year-old lady. She grows beans every season in many shambas to feed her children and grandchildren. When the season is very good, she sells some. We found her taking goats out to tie them in the bush.
I left the villages and headed to the small town of Kalisiso, 10 kilometres away, to talk to an expert who works with farmers in the villages I visited. I met with Miss Hindu Nakawoza, who works with Community Enterprises Development Organisation, also called CEDO.
CEDO is a community development organization that tries to help farmers get the best from their sweat by ensuring they have the best seed for planting—the best seed in terms of high-yielding and high disease resistance.
And before I forget, weeding on time also reduces the risk of this pest.
We talked to another expert about the weeding issue. Paul Aseete is with the National Crops Resources Research Institute, or NaCRRI. Mr. Aseete, how many times should farmers weed?
We encourage them to uproot weeds even after pods have formed or the crop is getting mature. Farmers can neglect beans at this stage and this can cause increased losses because of rotten, malformed, or discoloured seeds.
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We also talked to Hindu Nakawoza who works with CEDO in Kalisiso town. Among other things, CEDO ensures that farmers plant good seed. Finally, we talked with Paul Aseete of NaCRRI.
In this program, we learned that planting clean seed is one of the most important steps a bean farmer can take to prevent pests and diseases and to get the best yield from his or her sweat. It’s also very important to weed and spray pesticides at the right time, and to use correct spacing.
Finally, we learned that it’s important to talk to experts about best practices—and about whatever is going on with your beans because, clearly, there are solutions for whatever challenge you might be going through.
Dear listeners, my name is ________, saying goodbye for now. Catch me again next week, same time, same station, for the agricultural program. Goodbye.
Contributed by: Tony Mushoborozi, SCRYPTA PRO UGANDA LTD.
Reviewed by: Mr. Paul Aseete, National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), December 1, 2016.
Mrs. Nabajja Jema, September 2, 2016
Mr. Katambala Aloysius, September 2, 2016
Miss Nakawoza Hindu, October 12, 2016
Mr. Paul Aseete, December 1, 2016.
This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada, www.idrc.ca, and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada, www.international.gc.ca