[2014] Smallholder family farmers and rural communities require access to information and communication to make their voices heard and change their lives for the better. This implies including ComDev as part of agricultural and rural development policies in order to promote dialogue and participation, harnessing the potential of new ICTs (such as mobile phones, the internet and computer-based applications) in combination with local media (such as community radio).
This document explores how communication for development (ComDev) approaches and community media can be successfully applied to support family farming. Prepared as an input for the Forum on Communication and Community Media for Family Farming (FCCM), it includes an analysis of examples of Communication for Development approaches applied to smallholder farming and rural development and the issues that they encompass: food security, natural resource management, rural livelihoods, agricultural innovation, and capacity development.