by Lindsey Wray
Agriculture stories “aren’t sexy enough.”
That’s why Patrick Luganda thinks these stories are difficult to “sell” to editors and therefore rarely covered by African news media.
A way to give agriculture stories the appeal they need and deserve, said Luganda, is to think of them as stories not just about agriculture but to consider what impact they have. For example, in a story about maize, reporters should think about who produces maize, what products are made from it and how its production and use affect the lives of individuals and communities.
Luganda, a commercial farmer and editor-in-chief of the Farmers’ Voice newspaper in Uganda, shared his thoughts on improving agriculture coverage during a panel discussion at the launch of the International Women’s Media Foundation’s new initiative on agriculture on February 23 in Uganda. Called Reporting on Women and Agriculture: Africa, the IWMF project aims to energize the way African media cover this crucial subject. Agriculture is the economic cornerstone of most African countries.
Luganda, who will train journalists in Uganda for the project, echoed sentiments expressed by Tom Mshindi, IWMF board member and CEO of The Daily Monitor newspaper in Uganda, in his welcome remarks earlier in the day.
“Recognize the role that women play in this very important topic in Africa,” Mshindi urged journalists attending the conference.
“Agriculture continues to be the key employer” in Africa, he said, and women play a central role but are “basically absent in coverage.” The IWMF found in a media monitoring study that even though women produce 70 percent of food in sub-Saharan Africa and make up half of the region’s population, just 11 percent of the sources and 22 percent of the reporters are women.
Goals of the IWMF project are to boost coverage of agriculture and rural development and increase women’s voices – both as journalists and as sources – in stories about agriculture. The initiative is funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
In order to meet these goals, journalists must focus on making sure that more women are sources of stories about agriculture and that their lives and concerns are mirrored in coverage about agriculture, especially in rural areas. The current lack of women’s voices in stories about agriculture frustrates Ferial Haffajee, IWMF board member and editor of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian.
“We are caught in the midst of a massive celebrity culture,” she said, noting how the news media often draw attention to celebrity news, remaining “deaf to voices of rural African women.” Haffajee said this focus needs to shift to local, rural life and the stories of common people living their everyday lives.
“You begin the opportunity today to tell of the small things,” she told journalists from Mali, Uganda and Zambia who are participating in the project.
And with training and persistence, these “small things” will become big stories on women and agriculture in the African news media.
To learn more about the IWMF’s project, Reporting on Women and Agriculture: Africa, visit www.iwmf.org/categorydetail.aspx?c=womenag.
Lindsey Wray is the IWMF’s communications coordinator.