How to reach people that are hardly connected to the internet and live in remote areas with no access to radio? Pocket FM - a communication system developed by MiCT - is more than a small, rugged FM radio transmitter. The device has been specially developed for use in regions without radio broadcasting at all. For example, in the civil war in Syria or Yemen or in refugee camps in Iraq. The communication system is connected to the Internet via GSM, has a built-in satellite receiver and can run on solar power.
Now farmers in Burkina Faso's rural region will also be provided with important agricultural information, not only with radio programs but also with educational videos, a knowledge database and the possibility of an interactive, radio-based agricultural forum. In a field test in Navrikpè, a village in Burkina Faso, with the project "Green Innovation Centers in the Agriculture and Food Sector" implemented by GIZ for the "ONE WORLD - No Hunger" initiative of BMZ, the mini transmitter has been equipped with a media server and a hot-spot, which allows the farmers of a village to access the specially developed agricultural information with their smartphone. As Pocket FM generates a local WiFi, there are no costs for the user to access the information.
Setting up a local Hotspot with education materials for farmers in Navrikpé, Burkina Faso