Agricultural Voices Syria: A podcast for promoting sustainable agricultural practices in Northwest Syria. (English)

One of the most critical impacts of the Syrian conflict on agriculture has been the collapse of support services for farmers in northwest Syria, which before 2011 were provided by the government. The transition to a free-market economy has added further challenges. The project Agricultural Voices of Syria (AVS) sought to address these difficulties by piloting a unique podcasting project in a conflict-zone, in order to facilitate knowledge transfer on agricultural practices, technologies and innovation from Syrian agricultural experts in Syria and in exile, to farmers in NW Syria to impact on their practices, livelihoods and food security. The first 15 podcast episodes were produced and disseminated to more than 1,000 farmers, who also took part in a follow-on evaluation survey, providing positive insights into how farmers use social media, the value of the content, ideas for new topics and farmers’ broader expectations for the series. Following this successful launch in Northwest Syria, AVS is aiming to become a communication platform for local and international actors in the field of food security.