By Victoria Nampala
Journalists are often not well informed about Agricultural reporting and are failing to exploit the opportunities that lie within Agroecology in particular.
They lack the required knowledge to disseminate such information.
So, when Agroecology School for Journalists and Communicators in partnership with Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum (ASAFF) sent out a call for journalists to apply for second cohort of the Agro ecology school of journalists and communicators training on March 6, about 30 applied but only 20 made it through for the second cohort.
The successful applicants have been undergoing five-day training at Eureka Place Hotel in Kampala.
The training, which ended on March 17 was premised on helping journalists to appreciate agriculture in general but advocate for Agroecology because they have the capacity and knowledge where they play a critical role in increasing comprehensive awareness and appreciation among policy makers, consumers and small-scale farmers as they are the main pillars in building a sustainable food system and ensuring food security hence shaping the food systems towards Agroecology.
The journalists are to undergo a three months online training, in person capacity building trainings after 5 weeks, field trips in different parts of the country and after 12 weeks of training, the journalists and communicators will be awarded with certificates and awards.
Andrew Adem, the course coordinator said the online trainings aim at building a network of journalists and communicators around Uganda and Africa working with Small –Scale farmers contribute highly to the national transition to Agroecology through disseminating the right information.
‘Empowering journalists and communicators on Agroecology is key in up scaling Agroecology in Uganda to achieve both equitable and sustainable food systems respectively’’
