School-on-the-air program for farmers in Surigao del Sur [Philippines] on rice production and climate change adaptation

Radio remains the most accessible and widely used medium in disseminating information specifically to the rural communities even to the far-flung areas in the locality. On the other hand, programs and projects or even those existing technologies discovered and other knowledge products developed would be futile If it will not reach and be utilized by the intended clients or audience which are the rice farmers. Hence this study was conducted to disseminate information of PhilRice technologies on-air through the School-on-the-Air program. It basically caters the information needs of the rice farmers which apparently benefit the whole farming community. In the same way, effectiveness of radio as one of the most preferred medium used in the locality of Bislig City, Surigao del Sur will be measured. Farmers from major rice producing barangays [villages] in the city have been randomly selected as SOA student-farmers. Monthly field monitoring and visitation of farmers' households has been conducted to check their level of understanding and follow-up session. PhilRice Text Center has been promoted during the weekly airing of the SOA program wherein everybody can send their messages like queries on the existing and recommended technologies, availability of seeds and others that a hotline can offer. Result showS that 95% of the student-farmers passed the exams after the airing of the SOA program compared to only 10% before the conduct of the SOA program. Hence, farmers' level of knowledge increased after the airing of the SOA program through the conduct of pretest and posttest. Apparently, there is a remarkable increase of knowledge of the farmers gaining an average of 316.25%. Text Center was also utilized wherein an increase of 62% of the registrants was found within three-month's time.