and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

JCOMMUNICAING IC TO RICEFI-RAE\IRS 227
I. WHAT MAY BE TRIVIAL TO PROFESSIONALS OK SCIENTISTS MAY BE
CRITICAL TO FARMERS.
In conceptualizing the visuals for tie posters, one overriding consideration
was our notion of farmers' visual literacy since farmers in rural Philippines are
largely exposed to the visual media. Thus, the prototype posters had visuals
which showed rice plants outlined in black, a farmer wearing a white shirt, and a
gray background to set a somber mood. As it turned out, :he :majority of the
farmers asserted a negative reaction to the colors used and saggcs!ed ",'alistic
colors instead, i.e., green rice plant, dark short and a light blue sky.
2. UTILIZING PRETEST RESULTS CAN RESULT IN SAVINGS FROM
INVESTMENTS ON INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION MATERIAL.
Had we proceeded to produce 10,000 copies of the 10 prototype posters
without the benefit of a pretest, we would have wasted our limited resources. As
earlier mentioned, only 3 out of the 10 initial set of posters worked with farmers
in terms of comprehensibility and other measures of effectiveness.
3. SELECTING AND PRIORITIZING MESSAGES BASED ON FARMERS' NEEDS
ENSURE GREATER ATTENTION AND INTEREST.
In designing and developing messages for the campaign, selection was based
on the key issues which emerged during market analysis. Thus, the campaign
focused only on those aspects of IPC which farmers had very little knowledge
about and consequently, minimized infornation overload.
4. COMMUNICATION MATERiIALS STIMULATE DISCUSSION AND
INFORMATION-SEEKING BEHAVIOR, AMONG FARMERS.
After exposure to posters and audio cassette dramas, farmers discussed with
co-farmers the IPC message carried by these communication material. At
neighborhood stores where posters were displayed, farmers who gathered for
informal talks frequently used the poster's message as their conversation piece
and often askcd why the posiers did not specify tie mtural enemies or what
chemicals should be applied for certain rice pests and diseases.
5. THROUGH THE SYSTEMATIC USE OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA,
FARMERS CAN BE MDTIVATED TO LEARN IPC AND TO DEMAND
TRAINING.
The skillful combination of posters and audio cassette dramas mixed with a
certain level of community organizing brought about awareness among farmers
of the potential of IPC. Once awareness was created, an increased need for PC
information was articulated by farmers. By being careful not to supply the IPC
infornmation sought, the canpaign was able to motivate farmers in all campaign
areas to demand IPC training.
ACKNOWLIDGNIENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) fo, the
communication campaign project reported in this paper.