Locally generated printed materials in agriculture : an experience from Uganda and Ghana

This report examines the usefulness of locally generated information material to (near-) subsistence level farmers in Uganda and Ghana. It questions the assumption that non-literate farmers do not benefit from information material and shows the variety of vectors and strategies that communities use to disseminate new knowledge. It examines the conventional theoretical and practical bases for the provision of information and contrasts these with practice at community level. The starting point for the report is a survey of Footsteps readership by Tearfund. Footsteps is a widely disseminated newsletter on community development, aimed at near-subsistence level farmers. It seeks to provide farmers with printed agricultural information in their own language and appropriate for their situation