Couple weeks ago I attended a special gathering of farmers, held at DSC. The event was a shrota mandal samelan (“listener group meeting”) for DSC’s radio program, Sajjata No Sang, Lave Kheti Maa Rang (“Bringing Color to the Farmlands”).
The 15-minute radio program has been a cornerstone of DSC’s agricultural extension work for the past 5 years. It has aired every Thursday evening over All-India Radio, India’s public radio station. The program is regarded as one of Gujarat’s most popular agriculture-related programs. Estimated average listenership is in the tens of thousands. The program’s success rests on three key ingredients: a commitment to discussing the most relevant, timely topics from that week in the growing season; an ‘infotainment’ approach that makes the program informative while keeping light and humorous; and inclusion of farmers’ voices through farmer interviews and interactive contests.
The program is also very important to the history of Awaaz.De; it was the inspiration for Avaaj Otalo, our first application. AO was originally conceived of as a complement to the radio program; a way for listeners to review, ask follow-up questions, and suggest topics for future programs.
This shrota samelan marked a momentous transition. DSC has decided to discontinue the radio program starting 2012. In its place, DSC will shift its full resources and focus toward Avaaj Otalo. Paresh Dave, a DSC staffer, radio program producer, and visionary of Avaaj Otalo, remarked to the farmers that AO was the evolution of radio. Beyond a one-way medium, AO delivers high-quality, relevant agricultural information on-demand, and is more inclusive of farmers as participants in the knowledge creation process. It is interactive radio, radio 2.0.
The transition was also due to a practical constraint: AO allows DSC to reach farmers in a more targeted way, at less fixed cost. They can even continue to produce the radio program, and distribute it over mobiles through AO, thereby saving the costs to broadcast through All-India radio.
Along with this announcement, DSC announced that they would be seeking subscription fees for one of AO’s most popular services, the ‘margdharshan’ broadcast. Up to several times a week, thousands of farmers have been getting phone calls from AO with announcement messages from DSC with technical advice, agricultural news, weather, event announcements, government schemes, and more. After over a year of offering this service for free to demonstrate its value, DSC will now seek a reasonable subscription fee to at least partially offset the costs to send the broadcast calls.
Will farmers pay? It remains to be seen, but given farmers’ testimonials about how useful the broadcast service is, it seems likely. During the meeting, we heard many farmers say that they were already paying to access AO by calling the local number and asking their questions. They continued to do so because they appreciated the quality of response they were receiving. And that despite having the option to call the toll-free, government-sponsored Kisan Call Center service, where they could speak to a live operator! AO consistently provided high-quality information that people were willing to pay and wait for.
During the meeting I lead a mini-session on AO and got some interesting feedback from farmers. One of the most frequent requests was to shorten the turn-around time for responses to their questions. If it gets passed 2 days, a response is not very valuable. This of course requires diligence on behalf of AO’s moderators and responders, but we can also help the cause on the technology side by providing better tools for moderators to re-use old responses to common questions. Another noteworthy suggestion came from a farmer asking for a way to jump directly to particular messages in a forum through shortcuts. It is a great feature, one we have developed but haven’t yet released.
But we can no longer afford to wait. As we attempt to fill radio’s big shoes, Avaaj Otalo (and thus Awaaz.De) will need to put its best foot forward.
