Transistor Sets To Fight Ignorance In Malagasy

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30399, 25 March 1964, Page 8

Transistor Sets To Fight Ignorance In Malagasy

(N.ZJ’.A.-Reuter) TANANARIVE. Malagasy. Transistor radio sets are being used to combat ignorance in the remote farm villages of Malagasy. “Operation Transistor,” as it is called, is well under way, in spite of critics who claim that the money would be better spent on essential farm tools, such as ploughs and yokes. In affluent societies, transistor sets may be the bugbear for crowded cities, trains and beaches. But they make almost the ideal instrument for reaching the 5,500,000 people of Malagasy who are spread over an area as large as France and the Benelux coun- '■ tries (Belgium, the Nether- , lands and Luxembourg) combined. More than 90 per cent of the inhabitants are country people, struggling to scratch a bare living from the patches of good soil on the coast or in the isolated valleys of mountain plateau which dominates the rocky island. Most of the simple brick and wooden dwellings have no electricity. The villages see no machinery except the ramshackle “taxi-brousse” which takes them bumping over the stony red earth tracks to market. Radio repairs would be too expensive, even if radio mechanics were available. The transistor set, with its unbreakable parts and longlife batteries, js proving the answer to reaching the illiterate in town and country. At the same time, it is helping, through educational programmes, to beat illiteracy itself. In 1960, when Madagascar became politically independent from France as the Malagasy Republic, there were some 60,000 receivers, mostly in the capital of Tananarive and in the larger coastal centres like Fort Dauphin and Tamatave. Madagascar three years ago was no better off than the poorest countries, with one receiver, Usually owned by a city-dweller, a

100 inhabitants. Villagers still relied, for entertainment on the lively music and dancing brought with them from the Far East. The Malgaches reflect their Oriental origin in appearance and customs which make them totally different from their neighbours on the African continent. They raised their crops of rice, coffee and fruits and caught their fish, without any contact with the outside world, or even much idea of what went on in other parts of the island. Government experts, anxious to make the programme of “rural awakening” as effective as possible, considered various alternatives to “Operation Transistor,” such as, for example, collective listening or loudspeakers piped from a central receiver. Lack of technicians was only one obstacle to such schemes. Having decided on the transistor method, the Malg'.che authorities attacked the problem of bringing the price of sets within the very limited means of villagers estimated to have an average annual income of 30,000 francs CFA (about £43). First, President Philibert Tsiranana slashed import duties on transistor sets and fixed a maximum selling of 16,000 francs CFA (£23) for technically suitable sets, eligible for tax cuts. A new credit-scheme allowed purchasers earning more than 6000 francs CFA (£9) a month to draw a grant towards the cost of a set from a central fund, although some preferred to make personal arrangements with individual salesmen. Radio sales soared. Experts estimate that, by the end of this year, Malagasy will have five sets a 100 inhabitants, a figure which comI>ares favourably with statistics" for many countries of Africa and Asia. Strict checks have been maintained to ensure a highquality receiver. Many types were turned down because they did not have standard

i batteries or suitable aerials, : or could riot operate on the tropical wave-band. i Opponents of “Operation ; Transistor” label the proi gramme as idealistic and im- ; practical. Its supporters re- • tort that it is as important . for the farmer to know what . is going on in his country . as it. is for him to have ; essential farm, equipment. So t far, the fanners’ contacts > with Government policyf making have been limited to . occasional visits by ministers or to the tours which Presi- . dent Tsiranana makes by air ; all over the island. ’ “Operation Transistor” en- . thusiasts hope that extension i of the credit scheme to non--1 salaried householders, a . further reduction in the price . of sets, and a simplification I of receivers enabling them to ; pick up only the national channel in Malagasy, will combine to turn “Operation ■ Transistor” into a popular and fully-utilised broadcast- , ing system, benefiting both . the individual and the country j as a whole. I