01 September 2009, Maputo, Mozambique – Ahead of the Food and Agriculture Natural Resources Policy Advocacy Network’s (FANRPAN) annual regional policy dialogue, journalists from as far afield as Sierra Leone and Benin joined their Southern African counterparts a training workshop jointly organised by FANRPAN and Inter Press Service Africa.

The policy dialogue beginning on September 1 will be attended by more than 200 delegates from across the subregion. It takes “the true contributions of agriculture to the economy” as its theme in line with FANRPAN’s focus on research and analysis of Southern Africa’s policy frameworks and processes. The network operates in 13 countries, linking government ministries, farmer’s organisations, policy research institutions, civil society organisations and private sector umbrella groupings.

The journalist training had the immediate objective of preparing to cover the week’s discussions, while strengthening reporting of food, agriculture and natural resources reporting by participants in the future.

One of the growing challenges facing African agriculture is the impact of climate change. Frank Kayula, of PANOS Zambia presented research – and vividly demonstrated by means of a survey of participants – the generally weak grasp of climate change issues, terminology and underlying science. This has led to poor coverage of the issues in Africa.

Participants agreed that it was important for journalists to develop an understanding of the issues in order to be able to cover them meaningfully. This did not necessarily mean becoming experts in their own right; more realistically, it meant the cultivation of reliable and informed analysts and perhaps establishing a network of agriculture writers with whom to exchange information.

IPS Africa editor Terna Gyuse spoke of the importance of presenting climate change in the compelling terms of the people at its heart: bringing the research and policy recommendations to the front pages of newspapers by taking stories of hunger, of flat or falling agricultural productivity, of floods and unexpected diseases. Succeeding in bringing the real stories of both vulnerability and resilience of African agriculture to prominence is key to a stronger and more effective role for media in supporting improved livelihoods for rural people and building Africa’s economies.

The workshop took early steps to begin filling in gaps in the knowledge, listening to presentations from FANRPAN’s Wole Olaleye and David Kamchaha on climate change fundamentals and the place of Africa’s agriculture in responding to global warming, as well as an expose on the four pillars of Africa’s programme for agricultural renewal, the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme: managing land and water, improving market access, promoting appropriate agricultural research and dealing with hunger and food security.

Michael Hoevel, from the Farming First campaign, walked journalists through his campaign’s model for promoting sustainable agriculture. He also demonstrated the value of constantly examining agricultural issues from multiple perspectives – government, business, civil society viewpoints – and understanding both the common interests and the conflicts between them.

The journalists will begin to apply their training immediately in covering the Dialogue, reporting from scheduled panels on biosafety and biotechnology; on the particular needs of women farmers to access markets; looking at water use along the Limpopo River and more. Each journalist has also been tasked with coming up with their own ideas for stories to pitch to their home publications; they will then seek out government officials, researchers and policy makers attending the dialogue as sources of expert knowledge for their reports.

Articles, photographs and audio clips will be published in a continuously updated online newsletter on IPS Africa’s TerraViva site, with selected materials mirrored on the FANRPAN and Farming First websites.