I am Riddu. I'm reading On mass communication and journalism at Comilla University in Bangladesh.
In this context, today I am writing about the role of Bangladeshi media in agricultural journalism.
How did the media bring about change in our agriculture? In addition to entertainment, what other roles media can play?
Bangladesh is an agricultural country. Sixty-five percent of the people in this country are involved in agriculture in various ways. Besides, agriculture also has an important role in the country's economy.
After independence of Bangladesh in 1971, 23 percent of the country's GDP came from agriculture. Still 16-17 percent comes from agriculture But such a large sector contributing to the country's economy has always been out of the media spotlight.
According to former Information Commissioner of Bangladesh Ghulam Rahman, 'The media in our country works only for entertainment, but the media does not value or want to work on a large sector of this country like agriculture.
Because, it is a specialized sector. We don't have the kind of skills that are needed for this sector. Who are the media of our country for? Mass or Rich? There is a gap in this question.
However, it is not that the work is not going on at all, 'the soil and the people' of the government television BTV , 'The soil and The people in the heart' of the private television channel I are prominent.
These programs are also very popular among the people of the rural areas of this country. One of the craftsmen behind this is Sheikh Siraj.
He has made a special contribution in introducing agricultural journalism in this country. He started agricultural journalism in the eighties with the marginal agriculturists of rural Bengal. But what was the situation then?
Sheikh Siraj said, 'Food security is fragile, people's socio-economic condition is weak, we had no clear idea about rural economy. From such a place, the practice of agricultural journalism in the country was quite difficult.
Television was a powerful medium in the 60's and 70's. Sheikh Siraj wanted this powerful medium not to rely solely on entertainment.
Because, television has the ability to show and listen. He believed that it was possible to use this power to eradicate poverty from the country, to develop the country, to change the way people think about agriculture.
It was from this belief that he started working in agriculture. He taught the audience of the country's media to think, agriculture is not just about paddy and jute cultivation. Farmers are not the only people working in the villages.
He introduced farmers to high yielding varieties of crops. There was an idea among the farmers that agriculture means indigenous variety. They were afraid to cultivate new varieties of crops. If the crop is not good, they will die without food.
Sheikh Siraj has defeated such ideas of the farmers by using powerful media like television, has made the farmers familiar with modern agriculture, has trained them.
He informed the farmers about the invention of various agricultural implements, high yielding varieties through various agricultural programs on television.
Once upon a time, with the advancement of technology, internet technology came to the fore behind television. Sheikh Siraj also introduced this internet technology to the farmers of Bangladesh.
He introduced the farmers of our country on how countries like China and the Philippines have achieved prosperity in agriculture using the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence.
Farmers in our country now know how to reap higher yields in less space. How to cultivate high yielding crop or hybrid crop.
After all, as a result of these efforts of Sheikh Siraj, agriculture has now spread beyond the villages to the cities. Roof farming is developing in the buildings of the city. Farmers are no longer just villagers. Anyone can be a farmer.
Not to mention another special contribution of Sheikh Siraj in agricultural journalism is the budget of the farmers. Although agriculture has a large contribution to the country's GDP, farmers were neglected in the country's budget. The word of the farmer did not reach the government.
In this context, he organized the 'Farmer's Budget' program to convey the issue of farmers to the government. Through which there was interaction between the farmers and the government. The government came to know about the farmer.
Agriculture and farmers got importance in the budget. Which is really development journalism.
Because, development means the participation of all the professions, all the people of a country, a society. And research is needed to accelerate this development.
The more research is done in this sector, the better the country will be. But that is why agricultural journalists, agricultural researchers have to go to the field level, they have to talk to the farmers. We need to know about their non-receipt.
Therefore, the country's agricultural journalism will move forward, agricultural research will be rich, farmers will move forward, said an agricultural researcher Shafiul Islam.
