Talking to older farmers about beans…
At the write-shop in Arusha, Tanzania in June 2015 we asked the participants to think about the issues associated with communicating with older farmers. This blog is the third in a series, previously we explored their thoughts on communicating with women and young people.
This is what the group came up with. Do you agree?
Attitude to farming
- Committed to farming versus young people
- More aware of sustainability = rutuba
- They are usually the landowners
Communications issues
- Need simple language and may not read diagrams easily
- Cannot easily see small fonts – need larger text
- Voice may work better than SMS
- Learn by seeing so demonstrations are important
- Since they are less energetic they may benefit from more mechanism/ labour saving
Other
- May need financial support to kick start
- Like to know about market prices
- Like things to be available locally
- More vulnerable to food insecutty
- Travel from the shamba is more difficult
- Relate input and outputs
ASHC will be seeking to build up more detailed farmer segmentations over the coming months.
Veronica’s father