Increase investment in Agric to accelerate dev't - GARDJA tells gov't

President of the Ghana Agric and Rural Development Journalists Association (GARDJA) has urged government to increase investment in the agricultural sector to accelerate development.

Richmond Frimpong said it is worrying that successive governments have paid lip service to the sector over the years and called for a change.

“Government claims Agric remains the mainstay of the economy but you don’t contribute much. You only depend on donor support. 

“Government says it is doing Planting for Food and Jobs. I have been asking, how much is government investing in PFJ? Yet no answer. What we learnt is that it is the Canadian government which is supporting the country,” he noted.

Mr. Frimpong was speaking to Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo at the annual congress of the International Federation of Agric Journalists (IFAJ) at the Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands.

The IFAJ is a federation of journalists and communicators and it works to promote press freedom and agriculture reporting, as well as provide a platform for the professional development of members and international networking.

It consists of more than 5000 journalists and communicators from 45 countries across the world. 

Related: Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gakpo wins IFAJ award for 'Rampaging Soldiers' documentary

The congress brought together journalists for among others, a conversation on what should be done to help make the Agric sector better.

President of the German Guild of Agric Journalists Dr Katharina Seuser noted journalists have a big role to play in helping the world fix challenges facing the Agric sector.

“The big challenges are how to feed a growing population and how to face climate change and these topics have to be solved together,” she told Joseph.   

Ashley Robinson who works with the Commodity News Service Canada said there is the urgent need for a political authority to do more to support farmers. “If politicians can put their support being farmers, it will definitely help us deal with the problems that they are facing,” she noted.

Below is a video link to the story

Steve Werblow who is General Secretary of the International Federation of Agric Journalists called for increased attention to agric reporting as a sure way accelerate development in the world.

“There should be more discussion of the science that touches agriculture. In order to address issues of climate change, we need to understand the science and the impact of what is happening in our climate,” he said.

“Agric journalists are bringing stories back from the farms and rural communities, saying these are the impacts of the policies that government creates. And those messages need to come back to the capital city. To the cities. And journalists are in the middle of all of this,” Mr Werblow added.

Watch Joseph’s interview with Steve Werblow here

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