Growing Journalists from Agriculturalists: Restoring Culture in Agriculture in Trinidad and Tobago

From the Role of the Media in Agriculture and Rural Development Conference in Brussels, Belgium, October 12-16 2009, this article focuses on how agriculture has been marginalised in Trinidad and Tobago as a basis for development. Imported agricultural products and foodstuffs are seen as a measure of status and advancement. Dr. Rampersad argues that agriculture must develop its own links with the media. A proactive approach that includes making full use of new media and establishing direct contact with individual journalists could lead to a stronger, more positive image of agriculture and its critical importance.

According to the author, "The media is one of the most powerful modern engines for creating, nurturing and sustaining tastes, perceptions, habits and beliefs. As a creative catalyst, an agent of culture, and a stimulant of public opinion, it is recognizably best positioned to reversing ... attitudes and approaches that have worked against the [agricultural sector]. But the limitations on media as an institution in the region are not much different from those of the agriculture sector. It too views itself as disempowered and functioning with limited capacity, resources and investments in its professional development."

Dr. Rampersad suggests that agriculturalists can empower themselves by increasing their capacities to use media in their outreach. "Empowering the agriculture sector to utilise the wide array of media tools and opportunities is key to attracting media attention to agriculture. The agriculture sector has to develop and establish strong bonds with conventional mass media as well as explore the potential of expanding outreach and impact through new (e.g internet) and alternative (performance arts) media. Agriculture must reach out to create understanding and awareness and then a one-to-one approach - reporter to agriculturalist - rather than trying to convert the entire media. The sector will also benefit if it develops its own expertise in journalism; package media products, feed articles and stories to media outlets and filter its expertise through the system as editors, producers, reporters and opinion leaders, for example. In addition it should draw on the opportunities for citizen journalism and the kind of target community the online social and professional networking channels provide....Support by new technology and with the objective of gaining fuller control over content and message will enable the sector to [focus on] its audiences and readership in a more systematic way and emerge from the niche into which it has been squeezed by the conventional media. One particularly effective mechanism for stimulating media interest and awareness is the outdoor outing - taking journalists away from the daily grind of the office to field projects. At the same time, there is enormous potential in training and using the sector’s ready cadre of extension officers - already experts in transferring technical scientific information accessible to lay farmers/communities - to be effective conduits of information, potential media liaisons, and agricultural stringers and journalists."

In conclusion, the author recommends that the agricultural sector create its own opportunities for public outreach by "growing its own journalists."