Training
Agricultural content: blogging, video and podcasts
Teaching and informing people about agriculture through writing, video or audio, and building an audience.
Opportunity to investigateNon-farm-based
- The problem
- The opportunity
- The customer
- The solution
- How money can flow
- What is required
- Start small
- Scale
The problem
People searching for practical agribusiness information often find it scattered, outdated or unreliable.
The opportunity
Become a trustworthy source of agricultural information in a niche you know well.
The customer
- Aspiring agripreneurs
- Farmers
- Students
- Sponsors and advertisers
The solution
Consistent, accurate content, with digital products or services built on the audience over time.
Who pays?
Advertisers or sponsors, buyers of digital products or courses, or clients who find you through your content.
How money can flow
Income can come from ads, sponsorships, affiliate links and your own products, but audiences take time to build and income is uncertain.
What is required
- Real expertise or access to experts
- Basic recording or writing tools
- Consistency
- Accurate, sourced information
Skills needed
- Writing or presenting
- Research
- Editing
- Audience building
Major challenges
- Slow audience growth
- Uncertain and irregular income
- Keeping content accurate
- Competition for attention
How to start small
Publish regularly on one narrow topic and listen to what your audience asks for.
How it could scale
Add courses, newsletters, consulting or partnerships built on the trust you earn.
Descriptors
- Starting complexity
- Low
- Capital intensity
- Low
- Skill requirement
- Intermediate
- Infrastructure
- Minimal
Descriptive categories, not profitability rankings.
Regulatory considerations
Advertising, sponsorship disclosure and copyright rules apply; information must be accurate.
Rules differ by country. Confirm with the relevant national authority.
The customers, routes to market, business models and many practical tips on this page are suggestions, not findings. Know something better? Suggest an improvement →
What the sources say
Source-backed observations about this kind of business in Africa. They describe conditions and challenges, not income or results.
- Radio remains an important channel for agricultural extension in sub-Saharan Africa. One radio programme working across the region has adopted interactive digital tools to reach both women and men farmers with agricultural and climate information.
- In Ghana, radio stations are being developed as digital advisory hubs, with trained officers hosting interactive programmes. This responds to the fact that extension agents cannot visit scattered farming communities often, and farmers may be away at markets or in the fields when they do.
- Guidance on farmer video recommends a farmer-centred process: choose topics, plan, produce, validate with farmers, distribute and monitor results. Farmers are shown in the videos, and production is either led by professionals or driven by trained farmers.
- Language and literacy shape how well content works. Video is especially suitable for low-literacy populations, a disproportionate number of whom are women, and videos can be translated into local languages.
- Practical challenges include distribution logistics, weak infrastructure and the seasonal nature of filming farm operations. Video also often needs to be combined with other methods, such as demonstrations, to teach new skills.
- Digital services are more likely to be sustainable when they address the diverse needs of farmers, offer software in local languages, and involve farmers or their organisations in contributing. Building digital skills among farmers and extension staff, and onboarding local authorities, also help.
Sources and further reading
Links open in a new tab.
- NOTE 6: Videos for Agricultural Extension (Good Practice Note) — Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS)
- Farm Radio assists Ghana with Digital Agricultural Advisory Services — Farm Radio International
- The enduring power of radio for agricultural extension in Africa (record) — CGIAR CGSpace / CTA ICT Update
- Ten success factors for rural digital transformation in Africa — FAO Regional Office for Africa
The sections above are a general outline and practical suggestions, not findings from these sources. Check local rules with official sources before you act.
Not financial advice and not a promise of income. Try the planning calculator with your own figures.