The Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM) in collaboration with Africa 21 has issued a call for journalists and media professionals focusing on agriculture and sustainable development to create a compelling documentary-style video that highlights the stories of rural farmers.
These are rural farmers who have developed innovative initiatives to manage agricultural risks.
This is in line with the celebration of World Food Day and the International Day of Rural Women.
According to a press statement by PARM, the PARM stories challenge aims to highlight the special contribution of smallholder farmers that every day face multiple risks yet produce one-third of the world’s food.
“We are inviting journalists and media professionals to participate in the challenge and unleash their storytelling power by creating and submitting their videos,” the statement read in part.
“The video should explore the challenges smallholder farmers face, their innovative solutions, and the positive impacts of their initiatives on their productivity as well as the sustainability of agri-food systems contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals 1, 2, 5, and 15.”
Applicants have been urged to pay particular attention to women, youth, and other vulnerable communities.
They are required to focus on the personal narratives of individual farmers or farming communities.
They should showcase how farmers have adapted to and mitigated risks such as climate risks, market fluctuations, pests, or limited resources.
Applicants should also highlight their strategies, such as crop diversification, soil conservation, water management, or the use of sustainable agricultural practices.
The challenge themes for stories are building self-resilience, contributing to food security, environmental impact reduction and sustainable agri-food systems.
The first winner of the challenge will benefit from a field visit in one or more operational countries of PARM/IFAD (International Fund for the Development of Agriculture) to gain direct experience of the projects/activities of the UN in agricultural risk management.
The first three winning videos will also be presented during the international event as well as the winning journalists.
Participants have until November 18 to submit their videos.
