Reporting Agriculture

Communicating Agriculture to the General

Public

Common Terminologies

Reporting the Science of Agriculture

The Players and the Debate

by

David Rupiny

Aims
To establish an appreciation of effective
reporting of agriculture (farming).
To develop skills and techniques for
effective reporting on agriculture.
To reflect and build on our own
understanding of our role in consistent
and effective reporting on agriculture.

Overall, the training is intended to be:

a)Relevant provide a solution to an
actual need
a)Effective the trainees and organisation
will learn new knowledge, skills and
attitudes for a winning newsroom; and
b)Efficient have return on investment.

Ag State
mismatch between agriculture and communication
a lot is being done, and even not, in agriculture
and even that is not being communicated
Whom are we targeting, really?
What message are we disseminating? Ag v. Ekitone
Credibility the backbone of ag-journalism

Ag at a Glance
Backbone
Contributes 37% of GDP
Coffee accounts for 19% of exports
Non-traditional exports hides and skins,
vanilla, vegetables, fruits, flowers, fish
Floriculture fastest growing sub-sector
Allocated 473 billion shillings (3% of budget)
2003 Maputo Declaration calls for 10%
budgetary allocation

Important
Food Security
Food Sovereignty
Food Loss
Extension
Role of the Media in face of flagging
sector
Base of the Pyramid

Reporting Ag Science
Agriculture is applied science
Factual, the truth, the reality
Planning
Research
Cause Effect Impact
Cause signs and symptoms diagnosis
remedy result - feedback

Ag Science

Data, figures simplistic yet to the point

Actuality
Demonstration
Interview descriptive location
interviews
Pictures
Language scientific vs. local
Examples, role models, etc.
Is about the farmer and the value chain

Public Policy
Public policy is what government does or does not
do about a problem that comes before them for
consideration and possible action.
Social policy refers to guidelines, principles,
legislation and activities that affect the living
conditions conducive to human welfare.
The Policy is what the government chooses to do
(actual) or not do (implied) about a particular issue
or problem.

Attributes of PP
Public policy has a number of key attributes:
Is made in response to some sort of issue or
problem that requires attention.
Policy is made on behalf of the "public."
Policy is oriented toward a goal or desired state,
such as the solution of a problem.

PP Continued
Policy is ultimately made by governments, even if
the ideas come from outside government or
through the interaction of government and the
public.
Policymaking is part of an ongoing process that
does not always have a clear beginning or end,
since decisions about who will benefit from policies
and who will bear any burden resulting from the
policy are continually reassessed, revisited and
revised.

 East African Countries vs. the Asian Tigers - A

comparison of the different post-independence
development approaches and outputs state-led
rural development campaigns the failures and
successes between East African countries and the
Asian Tigers. The former neglected the base of the
pyramid (peasants), preferring the elite while the
latter did the reverse borrowing even from East
African countries.
Why are some countries rich and others poor?
Why are some governed well and others badly?