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One of the most important tools we can use
to improve agriculture is to invest in young people - IFAJ President Owen Roberts (Photo Credit: M.S.Joof/TNBES/April 2).
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By Modou S. Joof, Pretoria, South Africa
Sixty
journalists from Africa and around the world on Sunday met at the Leriba near
Pretoria, South Africa to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing
agricultural journalists in Africa as they help farmers succeed.
The
International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Africa Forum also
looked into possible solutions to the challenges that African journalists face
and what has to be done to advance information transfer to farmers.
Sunday’s
forum, a side event of the 2017 IFAJ World Congress holding in Pretoria and
Cape Town in South Africa, noted that in order to create a positive revolution
in the agriculture sector, journalists must be able to send out positive
messages to the farmers - the gate keepers of societies.
Improve
agriculture in Africa
IFAJ
President, Owen Roberts, said the Africa forum was encouraged by the growing
needs and necessities to improve agriculture in Africa.
“IFAJ
has a clear mandate and finds that one of the most important tools we can use
to improve agriculture is to invest in young people,” he said.
Speaking
from an agriculture industry perspective, Kinyua M’Mbijjewe, head of corporate
affairs at Syngenta Africa, said agriculture is the single biggest opportunity
in Africa for economic growth.
“Africa
has real opportunity for agricultural growth, with its huge arable land,” he said.
Syngenta
is present in 90 countries and is said to be a leading agriculture company
helping to improve global food security. Kinyua said Africa can steadily grow
in food production when institutions and journalists help farmers to unleash
their potentials.
“The
African home narratives are to embrace partnership,” he said.
Encourage youth
participation
Theo
De Jager of the Pan-African Farmers Organisation said African farmers have made
a serious leap-jump in the agriculture sector in the past decades.
“It
is important that a similar paradigm shift happen among journalists. The world
sees agriculture through your eyes,” he said when speaking on agricultural
journalism in Africa.
“You
must make it attractive and encourage youth participation in agriculture,” de Jager
said on April 2.
Scott
Angle of the International Fertilizer Development Centre, said he believes that
the proper message is still not reaching the young people to encourage them
participate in agricultural production and productivity.
“The
average African farmer access only 10% of the needed fertilizer. If we stop
using fertilizer today, the yield would go down by 50 percent,” he said when
speaking on challenges and opportunities for journalists to advance information
transfer to farmers.
Key
among the participants of the forum are journalists from Burundi, Burkina Faso,
Gambia, Kenya, Togo, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia.
Journalists
from Europe, Australia and Asia and the participants of the 2017 IFAJ and
DuPont Pioneer Master Class and the IFAJ and Alltech Young Leaders also took
part in the Africa Forum.
They
suggested that regular agriculture education for journalists can also be a
driving force to spike development of the sector.
The
IFAJ’s global congress opens on Monday at Kievitskroon in Pretoria and will go
through 8th April.
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