Across farming and mining communities in West Africa, radio remains one of the most trusted and accessible sources of information. By reaching people in their local languages, it fits seamlessly into daily routines and can create space for dialogue in areas where digital tools still have limited reach.
But artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how information is produced, distributed and consumed. It’s capable of generating content, scripts, voices and even simulated emotions at scale. While these tools can support efficiency and reach, there is also a real risk that lived experience will be eroded.
For smallholder farmers navigating climate shocks, market volatilities and evolving production standards, trust is everything. Farmers are far more likely to act when information comes from people who understand their reality; fellow farmers, local leaders, extension agents and community radio hosts who speak their language and share their struggles.
Radio as a platform for real farmer voices
Radio plays a critical role in Solidaridad’s work at the community level by supporting sustainable production and improved incomes for farmers, as well as promoting safer and more responsible mining practices. Through radio programmes developed with community radio stations and partners, farmers have learned to share their experiences adopting new practices and discuss challenges openly. They also exchange practical solutions with peers in their own languages in formats that encourage listener interaction.
Under the Enhancing Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) project, which aims to ensure that farming communities in Ghana have equitable access to both carbon and non-carbon benefits, radio is used as a strategic tool to complement community sensitization efforts and ensure that no one is left behind.
Bennet Mensah, a participant from Assin Wurakese in the Central Region of Ghana, shares that the EnABLE radio sessions have deepened his understanding of sustainable land use and the opportunities available to cocoa farmers under climate initiatives.
“I now understand why it is important to plant more trees, protect our forests for future generations, and what we must do as farmers to protect our land and forests. I have also learned that as a cocoa farmer, I am eligible to benefit from the REDD+ programme once I play my part,” he shares.
In Nigeria, the participatory and engaging nature of the radio sessions held under the Lorna Young Foundation and Twinings Sourced with Care Programme allows farmers to voice their challenges and learn from other farmers’ experiences as experts provide practical solutions.
“The Farmers’ Voice Radio programme has become part of our weekly life. We dedicated our time to it because we are sure of learning a new farming practice to improve our yield from our colleague farmers,” says Benjamin Shaibu, a ginger farmer in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
At Solidaridad, we believe that farmers’ voices are central to shaping solutions and the stories we tell. As AI continues to reshape how information is produced and shared, the value of trusted, community-rooted voices becomes even more essential. There is also potentially room for radio to be enhanced by AI without sacrificing its humanness.
On this World Radio Day, Solidaridad reaffirms its commitment to amplifying the voices of farmers and workers from the field, ensuring that they are not subjects of development narratives but active narrators of their own stories.