Peruvian farmers are getting access to important agricultural information thanks to the new practice of 'podcasting' — downloading audio broadcasts from the Internet then playing them on computers or portable music players.
This article describes how UK charity Practical Action is making agricultural updates available online twice a month so eight centres in northern Peru can download them and copy them onto CDs.
Local radio stations use these CDs to broadcast the information to rural listeners who prefer hearing information in their own dialect to reading agricultural bulletins.
The scheme targets different districts with broadcasts relevant to the type of agriculture — such as cattle herding or grape farming — practised there.
Practical Action hopes farmers in other parts of Latin America will also use the podcasts. If the Peruvian pilot project succeeds, similar schemes will be set up in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.