The media is the fourth arms of government that contribute immensely to the development of the nation by educating the public on all manner of issues. However, how often do the media highlight agrifood systems in Ghana?
To bring to the notice and encourage the media houses on the need to promote agrifood sector in Ghana, the Alliance for Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) has converged the media houses on the stay of play in agrifood sector.
The Director of Communications and Advocacy of AGRA, Agnes Asiimwe Konde said the meeting with the media was critical to the development of the agrifood system… “the conversation was really about the state of play of the agrifood sector and the role of the media as a forth estate come to play in an amplifying the needs and the priorities if the sector so that we can able to increase investment in the agrifood systems but also ensure that we are building inclusive policies that are addressing and partnering with smallholder farmers in Ghana”.
She acknowledged the media engagement in Ghana, however, “how many times do we see agrifood systems stories as headline stories in our newspapers, radio and on tv?”
Food should be very important topic, according to her, agrifood system should be one of the biggest political topics to discuss. In analogy she explained if there were no nourished people on the continent, there could not be smart brains to take us to the moon or to innovate and create solutions for the continent.
“I belief that food and agribusiness is a very important sector and I belief that with our young population on the continent we must be able to bring food stories at the centre of every story we tell. So, I’m really encouraging the media houses and journalists to have a very interest in the food sector so that we can be able to ask good questions”, she added.
Speaking to Agri Today, she said Ghana has a lot of good policies to thrive the agrifood system, however, has the media been able to track the polices that have been designed, are we ensuring these policies are being implemented?
She called on the media to actively contribute to the agrifood and agribusiness growth for continental growth and development.
