海角大神

In the US, reality TV is replete with spoiled teenagers, extreme eating challenges, and arguing roommates. Here in Kenya, though, an innovative show is putting aside ratings-grabbing petty squabbling and trying to do good: helping small farmers back from the brink of poverty.

Now in its fourth season, the show, "Shamba Shape Up,鈥� has become hugely popular in East Africa. Think 鈥淓xtreme Makeover: Home Edition鈥� 鈥� but with chicken coops and composting.

In each episode, the TV crew visits a different 蝉丑补尘产补听鈥�聽Swahili for farm 鈥撀燼nd works to shape it up and improve it. The aim is for viewers to learn a few simple fixes to their own farming problems.

In the latest ratings, 11 million people from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda were found to be watching every episode. To give some perspective: that's more viewers than this fall's final episode of 鈥淏reaking Bad.鈥�

Lydia Githue, a widowed mother of three who lives off her small farm in Kenya鈥檚 Rift Valley, was the star of the second season鈥檚 premiere.

鈥淢y beans are not doing well,鈥� Ms. Githue recounts as the episode unfolds.聽鈥淢y chilies are very good and look nice but there is no market for it.聽聽My cow鈥�is not giving me enough milk.鈥�

A "Shamba Shape Up" team is called in, offering suggestions such as how to dry chilies in a solar dehydrator so they鈥檒l keep until she has enough to sell in bulk.聽

鈥淎h, that鈥檚 very good!鈥� she says with a smile.

Later in the episode, a construction crew, after determining that bad drainage was partly to blame for a cow鈥檚 poor health, takes sledgehammers to a cowshed and builds a new one.

The hosts explain to Githue what healthy, disease-resistant seeds are, and they help her buy some from a nearby store.

The production has campy moments. The hosts wear matching shirts and floppy hats, and they crack of puns about hot chilies. They also address a serious issue: the lack of training among many Africans reliant on small-scale cash cropping.

鈥淭here are a lot of people out there desperate for information,鈥� show producer Anne-Marie D鈥橭iler says. 鈥淚f you give people access to information and tell them where they can get something, they鈥檒l do it.鈥�

Some 90 percent of farmers who watch 鈥淪hamba Shape Up鈥� say they learn something new and almost half change their farming practices as a result, according to follow-up surveys. For example, a typical 鈥渟hape up,鈥� like a soil test or livestock insurance, costs $30 to $50. Most viewers own less than two acres of land and earn between 10,000 and 15,000 Kenya shillings (about $115 to $172) a month.

Githue now only buys disease-resistant beans, and says she has boosted her income by taking a new entrepreneurial approach and supplying dried chilies to three restaurants.

"They taught me about so many things," she says.

The TV seasons follow the growing season 鈥撀爁rom planting in March or April through September harvesting. The content is determined by viewer requests submitted by text message. Ms. D鈥橭iler says that soil, cows, and chickens are always the most popular topics, and at least one of these themes features in every episode.

This form of 鈥渆dutainment鈥� is hardly new in Kenya.聽聽For ten years, the same company that makes 鈥淪hamba Shape Up鈥� has produced 鈥淢akutani Junction,鈥� a long-running soap opera that deals with social and health issues.

D鈥橭lier says a reality format works best for agriculture because it emulates the most important source of information already relied on by small agriculturalists: fellow farmers.

Githue watches the show 鈥渆very Saturday and Sunday at 7:30,鈥� she says, and catches both the English and Swahili versions. Ever since appearing on the show, she says she鈥檚 become a bit of a local celebrity despite 鈥渘ever, never鈥� thinking she would be on TV.

鈥淢y neighbors come to ask, 鈥榳here can they get these seeds? Where can they get this solar [dehydrator] for drying the chilies? Where can they take them for market?鈥� 鈥� she says with a laugh.聽聽鈥淚 can even train others how to do it.鈥�