Twenty three rural broadcasters for radio and television from Zamboanga, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Cotabato recently gathered for a Broadcast Production Workshop at Prawn House Restaurant and Suites, Regatta Square, Pueblo de Oro, Cagayan de Oro City.

The workshop is sponsored by the CGIAR Research program on Climate Change , Agriculture and Food Security in Southeast Asia (CCAF-SEA) the Philippine Federation for Rural Broadcasters (PFRB), and in partnership with the ATI-RTC X. It is intended to introduce climate smart agriculture to the radio and television broadcasters to help the government in its awareness campaign.

Present as consultant and facilitators were former ATI Director Rex Navarro, now a consultant of CCAFS-SEA, Rogelio Manalang, President of PFRB; Chito Morante, PFRB VP for Visayas; and, Crismon Llanos, PFRB VP for Mindanao.

The event consisted of lectures and presentations to familiarize the broadcasters with the climate change, agriculture and food security concepts and practices. In the succeeding workshops, the rural broadcasters prepared prototype ready to-to-be-aired (RTBA) campaign materials about climate smart agriculture.

As advocates and volunteers, the broadcasters need to appreciate and understand climate change, its meaning, including its concrete manifestations and science innovations for its mitigation and adaptation in the context of agriculture and food security. Hence, they are equipped with the knowledge and materials as champions for the climate smart agriculture in the field of broadcast communications.

The workshop ended with forged agreement to work voluntarily and in future partnerships with the ATI Regional Training Centers in the region.