BREAKING NEWS
IFAJ’s Global Network Partnership will extend into a second year of operation after Syngenta confirmed renewal of its financial support for the outreach initiative.
The programme, which in its inaugural year sustained visits and in-person meetings with seven IFAJ members across Africa, paving the way for the re-admission of the Nigerian Association of Agricultural Journalists and providing valuable understanding of the role IFAJ must play in supporting and engaging all its members, will now continue the work and momentum put in place during 2025.
Additional GNP activities included a ‘summit’ between IFAJ and the Agricultural Mass Media Association of Thailand (AMMAT, the Thai guild of agricultural journalists); and the ‘Sharing the Knowledge’ webinar series.
“We’re proud to support the IFAJ,” said Saswato Das, Chief Communications Officer, Syngenta Group.
“If you eat, you should value agricultural journalism. It tells the story of where food comes from, who grows it, and what’s at stake. Good agricultural journalism reveals hidden threats – climate pressures, supply chain vulnerabilities – making them visible before they escalate into food security crises.”
IFAJ’s Secretary General, Adrian Bell, expressed his gratitude to Syngenta for their ongoing support of IFAJ.
“Without Syngenta’s Global Network Partnership, we could not have contemplated what we’ve achieved. It has allowed us to open a new front for member engagement, marking a step change in how we work and what we can deliver.
“The ripples from the inaugural programme are still evident. We’ll continue to support and nurture developments for IFAJ’s growth and resilience in Africa, such as the training programme we’re preparing in partnership with Guinea’s National Chamber of Agriculture, and in 2026 we’re hoping to bring Central Asia into the outreach programme.”
Kyrgyzstan, the first IFAJ member in the region, was welcomed to IFAJ at Congress in Nairobi, and the Presidium is currently supporting a Young Leader in the development of a guild for Kazakhstan. A further opportunity in Uzbekistan is also being explored.
Adrian says he’s keen to realise further GNP objectives, too – for example, providing support and benefit to individual member guilds where opportunities arise, not just with add-ons to events like ISF Congress or the continuation of the webinar series.
“We’re keen to hear from guilds who can see occasions for a tie-in between their own domestic activities and the GNP initiative.”
More than four dozen agricultural journalists, communicators, and dignitaries attended the opening of a day-long agricultural journalism workshop hosted by the Liberia Agricultural and Environmental Journalists Network (LAEJN) in 2025. The event was made possible with support from GNP funds.