Continued support for journalists reporting on women in agriculture

Summary of story form AllAfrica, 25 May, 2011

The International Women Media Foundation (IWMF) has pledged that it will continue to support and evaluate the reporting of women in agriculture, despite its training programme coming to an end.

The announcement was made at the official opening of the IWMF leaders’ forum.

For three years IWMF has been training reporters from The Times of Zambia and the Zambia National Broadcasting Cooperation on agricultural journalism.

The training was initiated to assess the quality of agriculture reporting, and compare the average from the “sowing seeds study”.

Training coordinator, Alana Barton, stated that follow up would be conducted at the Centres of Excellence (CoEs), where the training was initially conducted.

The IWMF will also work to assess whether the quality of reporting has improved based on the programme’s criteria.

Trainees were encouraged to highlight the success stories of women in agriculture.

Arthur Makara, chief executive of Science Foundation and Development, added that media analysis of increased food prices and transport costs helped ordinary people to make informed decisions.