Kenya-based correspondent Victor Moturi has been named among the prize winners at the Open Forum on Agriculture Technology 2022 Awards for his radio report aired on RFI’s Africa Calling podcast.
Moturi tied for second place with his story on genetically modified cotton in Kenya, weighing the positives and negatives of Kenyan farmers using GMO cotton seeds.
Radio Citizen Business Reporter Vincent Anguche tied with Moturi, both winning 60,000 shillings (€500), while Agatha Ngotho of The Star newspaper came in first place for her story on GMO cassava, receiving a 100,000 shilling (€850) prize.
In 🇰🇪, some #farmers are switching to #GMO#cotton, but not everyone is happy about it. Here, Evans (l) , a farmer, is speaking to #correspondent @vicmoturi in his field: https://t.co/zl8lUhTHJM pic.twitter.com/8gS5RFAFWC
— Africa Calling (@Africa__Calling) July 8, 2022
Victor Moturi has worked primarily on agricultural questions for the past two years on the Africa Calling podcast, and takes his role of reporting on farming challenges very seriously.
“Agriculture is the backbone of everything, and we know issues of climate change have also affected Kenya,” he says, adding that farmers are not always reliably informed of innovations.
“Media can play a key role to make sure the farmers know what’s going on technologically, and with climate change,” he adds.
Moturi will join the other winners next month in Nigeria, where his GMO cotton story will be up against 16 other journalists from across the continent for an OFAB Pan-African journalism award.
This award highlights the role of biotechnology in agriculture, and is awarded by the Open Forum on Agriculture Technology, which is part of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative.
