Access Agriculture participated as a sponsor in the 18th Gandingan Awards 2024 on 4th May 2024, in Los Baños. The event was organised under the theme ‘Agrikultura: Mga Kwento ng Hamon at Pag-asa’ (Agriculture: Stories of Challenges and Hope) by the University of the Philippines Community Broadcasters' Society (ComBroadSoc), College of Development Communication, University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Instituted in 2007, Gandingan Awards is the only student organisation-led and university-based award programme in the Philippines that recognises the contributions of national and community-based media organisations to development issues for improving the lives of the Filipino people.
The name of the awards is based on ‘gandingan’, which is a set of four large, hanging gongs used by the Maguindanao community. The gandingan allows the community to communicate with each other, allowing them to send messages or warnings via long distances.
This year’s award theme took agriculture to the centre stage, encouraging media practitioners to highlight development issues in the Philippines and amplify the voices of small farming and fishing communities, who play a crucial role in contributing to the country’s food security.
Winners were selected from about 200 entries by 28 media networks and platforms. The winners captured the challenges and success stories of farmers, fisherfolk, and other concerned groups as part of the overall agricultural landscape in the country.
“The theme for this year encouraged not only media practitioners but also younger generations and other sectors to be pro-active in reaching out to farmers, and other groups or individuals to improve not only their livelihoods but also their daily lives,” explained Danessa Lopega, Access Agriculture Coordinator for the Philippines.
Danessa added that the organisers of the event decided to give the proceeds to a non-profit organisation based in the Philippines, Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), which is one of the key partners of Access Agriculture in the country. PAKISAMA is recognised as a national movement and confederation of small farmers, indigenous peoples (IPs), rural women, and youth organisations committed to building strong family farmers and resilient rural communities.
Currently, three languages from the Philippines are available on Access Agriculture video platform, namely Tagalog, Hiligaynon, and Bisaya-Cebuano.
