The Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalist Association (GARDJA), an association of journalists in agriculture, has called on the government and other stakeholders within the agricultural value chain to give maximum support to journalists that have talents in reporting on agricultural related issues.
The Association said It was vital for such journalists to be well resourced so they could tell exactly what was on the ground and give in-depth assessment of the industry to help government implement policies that would sustain and promote the agricultural sector.
Nana Yaw Reuben, National Coordinator for the GARDJA, made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), at Sefwi-Wiawso, after a five-day Training of Trainers workshop on Human Rights Due Diligence (HEDD) toolkit for some selected journalists across the country.
The workshop, which was funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Corporation (NORAD) with Rainforest Alliance, International Cocoa Initiative and Solidaridad as partners, was attended by some journalists from the Western, Western North, Central, Bono, Oti, Volta, Greater Accra and Ashanti regions.
The GARDJA National Coordinator said the issue of child labour within farming communities, especially cocoa growing areas was a worry, and called on major stakeholders such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ghana COCOBOD to engage journalists extensively to find lasting solutions to the menace.
Nana Reuben also bemoaned the limited space and airtime given to agriculture and its related issues by the media houses, saying “Our media organisations must devote more time, attention and create a desk for agricultural issues in our newsrooms to help bring the sector into a positive lime light”.
He also asked young journalists to take interest in agriculture reporting to help revamp the sector.
Mr Stephen Ashia, Chief Executive Officer for Golden Bean and a facilitator at the training, urged journalists to help deepen the public education on child and forced labour and its associated effects on children to help reduce the issue within communities.
“As media practitioners, we must go to the grounds and find out if children were indeed working on cocoa farms, if the work they are doing is hazardous and if such work can affect their health and education so that we can report on child and forced labour issues accurately without misinforming the public”, he said.
Some of the participants who interacted with the GNA lauded the organizers of the workshop for the training and said they would impart the knowledge they had acquired to other journalists to help collectively promote the agricultural sector.
GNA
