admin | February 2, 2020
Rifati Jumanne Mgobole is a journalist who focuses on community issues, politics, and development programs. He also presents a new program on agriculture and livestock. Mr. Mgobole was one of the runners-up for the George Atkins Communications Award in 2019, an award that celebrates excellence in radio broadcasting that serves farmers and rural communities.
Currently, he broadcasts programs twice a week and addresses a wide range of issues affecting farmers and pastoralists. He runs a program called “Journey of Dawn,” which airs on Radio Pambazuko in Morogoro region, Tanzania. The program aims to raise awareness of and address the challenges facing communities in the areas of health, education, infrastructure, and access to water.
He says he receives feedback from his listeners through messages and through face-to-face discussions, while some call him directly. Listeners say they like several things about the programs, including the flow of the segments, being able to participate in the programs, the way challenges are addressed, the way time is managed, and the presentation of the program.
Mr. Mgobole uses FRI’s broadcaster resources in his regular programs, including the radio scripts available at farmradio.fm. He was also involved in a Farm Radio International project that broadcast episodes related to beekeeping, sugar cane, and cocoa production in Ifakara district, Morogoro.
Mr. Mgobole was inspired to be a broadcaster because he loves addressing and solving the challenges that face his society. He says the challenges he saw in his community made him unhappy and denied him peace of mind. He felt that he could help address these challenges by aiming to liberate the poor to reach the middle class through delivering programs for farmers about productive, modern agriculture which support agricultural professionals.
Mr. Mgobole became interested in learning about a variety of social issues because he believed that by doing so, he could communicate with people in different disciplines and tap into the huge potential of learning and working with the community around him.
His great passion is to see small-scale farmers be transformed from low to middle economic status. He likes to persuade young men who are discouraged from farming to see the opportunities available and work hard to diversify agriculture with various crops.
Mr. Mgobole has a diploma in Journalism and Communication and wishes to pursue higher education that will enable him to progress in agricultural radio programming.
In the Spotlight section, read profiles of the winners and other runners-up for the George Atkins Communication Award.