Farm Radio International partners with Elanco to support livestock farmers in Tanzania

Massai farmer with radio

For livestock farmers, the health of their animals means the health of their families.

That’s why Farm Radio International is partnering with Elanco Animal Health Incorporated to launch a 12-week series of radio programming on animal health in Northern, Coast, and Western Tanzania. It’s an expansion of our current partnership with Elanco.

Download the press release here.

The radio series will support and educate small-scale livestock farmers to manage the challenges around livestock health and wellbeing, supporting a drive to greater food security, livestock health and care in the region.

Through radio programming, the project will support community livelihoods that rely on livestock with relevant information on disease awareness, prevention and treatment. At the same time, Farm Radio will support and develop the capacity of local broadcasters during the production and airing phases of the livestock programs.

To maximize impact, the project is joined by Elanco’s distributor in the country, Ultravetis Tanzania Ltd.

Our partner stations include:

  • Tanga: Tanga Kunani FM with frequency 88.5 FM every Saturday from 8:30 to 9 p.m. and repeats on Wednesday from 5 to 5:30 p.m., starting on June 22.
  • Dar es Salaam: Tumaini FM with frequency 96.5 FM every Tuesday from 8:30 to 9 p.m. and repeats on Saturday 8:45 to 9:15 p.m., starting on June 25th.
  • Arusha: Radio Sauti ya Inijili with frequency 96.1 FM every Thursday from 7:30 to 8 p.m. and repeats on Monday 6: to 6:30 p.m., starting on June 27.
  • Mwanza: Jembe FM with frequency 93.7 FM every Saturday from 7:30 to 8 p.m. and repeats Sundays 7:30 to 8 p.m., starting June 29.

“We wish to extend our radio series and impact to more areas in Tanzania. The interactive radio approach that FRI has, together with the field support from our distributor Ultravetis Tanzania, will help us empower more farmers to improve the health of their livestock and produce more quality animal protein for their communities,” explains Maria Zampaglione, Elanco Corporate Social Responsibility Senior Advisor and project leader.

formative research for Elanco

FRI staff conduct formative research with livestock farmers in the Tanga region of Tanzania during the first phase of this project. This research is conducted to identify radio listenership preferences and knowledge gaps in livestock health before the radio program is produced.

Elanco’s support of the radio campaign with Farm Radio forms part of a ground-breaking project to provide sustainable development solutions to address food insecurity in East African countries – Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The East Africa Growth Accelerator (EAGA) is Elanco’s first pure ‘Shared Value’ project which is made possible through a $3.1million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant enables the registration, manufacturing and distribution of affordable high-quality veterinary products, along with intensive training initiatives for smallholder farmers and channel partners.

“This initiative also has a strong gender component,” says Mr. Wachira Mureithi, Chairman of the Ultravetis Group. “As an organization training livestock farmers since many years, when we saw the potential of FRI based on the pilot phase, where between 35 and 45 per cent of the listeners were women, we decided to join this initiative to reach more farmers via radio, especially women, who in many cases are the main livestock keepers in smallholder farms.”

Livestock disease remains a significant threat to achieving food security in East Africa where currently 25 per cent of protein from farm animals is lost due to animal illness.

“Radio presents a major opportunity to scale the important work of Elanco on livestock keeping. This is relevant for Tanzania, considering that only 20 per cent of livestock farmers utilize extension services in the country. The results we saw from the first series of radio programming showed that there is real promise in this collaboration and we hope to see even higher listenership and impact this time around. Livestock health is a critical issue for so many in Northern, Coast and Western Tanzania and these radio programs can help extend the life-changing messages to thousands in the region,” says Mark Leclair, Farm Radio International’s Manager of Communications.

Elanco’s goal through EAGA is to enable more than 240,000 dairy and poultry smallholder farmers to access small sized quality products by 2020. The partnership with FRI further helps achieve this goal of improving the lives of smallholder farmers through sustainable livestock production.

Learn more about Elanco’s Healthy Purpose and the EAGA Shared Value project at Elanco.com.

About Elanco Animal Health

Elanco (NYSE: ELAN) is a global animal health company that develops products and knowledge services to prevent and treat disease in food animals and pets in more than 90 countries. With a 64-year heritage, we rigorously innovate to improve the health of animals and benefit our customers, while fostering an inclusive, cause-driven culture for more than 5,800 employees. At Elanco, we’re driven by our vision of food and companionship enriching life – all to advance the health of animals, people and the planet. Learn more at www.elanco.com

About Farm Radio International

Farm Radio International is an international non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to serving African farming families and rural communities through radio. FRI currently works with more than 800 radio partners in 40 sub-Saharan African countries to fight poverty and food insecurity through high-quality radio programs that help small-scale African farmers help themselves. The radio station reaches tens of millions of small-scale farmers with life-changing information and opportunities to have a stronger voice in their own development, by providing a range of radio resources and training opportunities and working directly with select broadcasting partners on impact projects. Since 2007, FRI has worked directly with over 100 radio stations implementing more than 110 projects reaching more than 30 million farmers with interactive radio programming. Farm Radio International supports rural agricultural and economic development initiatives to communicate with small-scale farmers and rural households and support their efforts to innovate and affect change.

About Ultravetis

Ultravetis East Africa Ltd and Ultravetis Tanzania Limited. are companies that supply farmers with veterinary, animal health, hygiene products , seeds and services. We value innovation, both in scientific research and daily operations, and strive to cultivate a collaborative work environment for our employees and associates across the globe. Our mission is to offer high quality agricultural inputs and animal nutrition products by working closely with agro-chemical companies, distributors and technical experts for maximum benefits to farmers. To Ultravetis the customer is of paramount importance. As much we offer the best quality products, we also strive to provide in-depth knowledge of our product and animal diseases by providing after sales service of the highest possible quality. Visit us at www.ultravetis.com and www.ultravetistanzania.com

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