Every Tuesday and Friday, a familiar sound echoes through a household in northern Uganda. It is the tuning of a radio frequency, followed by the distinctive broadcast of the Farmer’s Voice Radio (FVR) program on Tembo FM.
For Aciro Stella, this isn’t just background noise for her daily chores; it is an essential appointment. As the deputy chairperson and women’s representative of the Mar-Lonyo Group, a radio listener group in Lamwo district, Aciro has transformed her radio set into a powerful tool for community development and financial independence. She meets with the other members to discuss different topics monthly.
She doesn’t just listen alone; she rallies her family, neighbours, and friends to join her, creating a ripple effect of knowledge throughout her village.
Before encountering the program, Stella’s farming methods were rooted in traditional, unoptimized practices. Her garden was disorganised, characterised by the erratic practice of planting different crops, such as maize and sorghum, together in a single hole. This crowded technique stifled crop growth, depleted soil nutrients, and inevitably led to disappointing yields.
The airwaves changed everything. Through FVR’s dedicated programming on sustainable land management and agronomy, Stella received a comprehensive education in modern farming. She learned the importance of proper spacing, row planting, and systematic crop management. Implementing these lessons transformed her fields from chaotic plots into organised, high-yielding agricultural enterprises.
The real turning point in Stella’s economic journey came when the radio program introduced the concept of value addition. For years, like many smallholder farmers in her region, Stella had fallen into the trap of selling her raw groundnut harvest immediately after digging it up, a time when market gluts drive prices to their lowest.
FVR challenged this norm, encouraging listeners to process their raw commodities to fetch a premium. With this insight, Stella began grinding her harvested groundnuts into a rich, high-quality paste before taking them to market.
The financial impact was immediate and profound. By transforming a raw agricultural product into a consumer-ready good, she saw her profit margins skyrocket. In a single season, Stella generated over UGX 1M in net profit. For a rural smallholder, this milestone changed the trajectory of her household’s welfare. With increased income, she successfully secured her family’s fundamental needs, ensuring consistent food security at home, gaining the financial resilience to afford proper medication and medical care, and reliably paying school fees to keep her children in the classroom.
Recognising that increased income requires smart management, Stella paid close attention to FVR’s segments on financial literacy. Instead of keeping her profits under a mattress or spending them impulsively, she adopted formal banking habits, safely saving her earnings to build a financial cushion.
Furthermore, she understood the core business principle of diversification. Rather than relying solely on groundnuts, Stella reinvested a portion of her profits into other high-value agribusinesses. She has now expanded her enterprise into coffee farming, securing a lucrative, long-term cash crop stream that is expected to stabilise her income for decades to come.
Beyond the impressive financial metrics, Stella’s story highlights a deeper, systemic shift in community dynamics and gender equity. As the women’s representative of the Mar-Lonyo Group, she has witnessed a remarkable evolution in how decisions are made within local households and the broader community.
Historically, rural women were frequently excluded from critical financial and agricultural decision-making processes. Stella firmly believes that knowledge has been the ultimate equaliser.
“I believe that now women take part in decision-making in their families,” Stella notes proudly. “This is because they get knowledge on different things like sustainable land management and how to properly grow crops. This makes them contribute to the family by providing this valuable knowledge that produces tangible results.” She says.
By bringing evidence-based solutions to the table, solutions that directly result in more food and higher income, women have earned newfound respect and bargaining power within their homes.
The spirit of collaboration fostered by the radio program is also reshaping the economic structure of the Mar-Lonyo Group. Inspired by FVR’s advocacy for collective action, Stella and her fellow group members are shifting toward bulk marketing and collective farming.
Individual smallholders often face exploitation by middlemen due to low volume and a lack of transport options. By pooling their produce and selling in bulk, the Mar-Lonyo Group is positioning itself to bypass exploitative brokers, negotiate directly with large-scale buyers, access better markets, and command fair prices for their hard work.
Looking firmly toward the future, Stella has also embraced the program’s environmental and forestry modules. Recognising that climate resilience is vital for sustainable farming, she has embarked on an ambitious tree-planting initiative.
To date, Stella has established an impressive woodlot of 3,465 trees under the Transformative Approach to Sustainable Landscapes and Livelihoods (TASLL) Project in Northern Uganda to promote planting of native trees in the region by the UK International Development and ECOTRUST. Her carefully selected species reflect a balance between ecological preservation and domestic utility, including indigenous species like Milicia excelsa (Muvule), Markhamia (Musambya), Khaya grandifoliola (Tido), White and Black Tick and fruit trees like Jackfruit, providing both nutrition and seasonal income.
While these trees grow, so does Stella’s long-term security. She views this woodlot as a lifetime investment strategy. In the coming years, she will sustainably harvest poles and high-value timber for sale, creating a massive financial windfall. Concurrently, the woodlot will provide a reliable source of domestic firewood, easing the daily burden of fuel collection.
Aciro Stella’s journey from a disorganised garden to a thriving, diversified agribusiness icon is a testament to the power of accessible extension services. Through Farmer’s Voice Radio, a regular radio set has become a catalyst for economic independence, environmental stewardship, and the profound empowerment of women across her community.
