Domingo F. Panganiban, senior undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), honors journalists for their significant contributions in agriculture and environment reportage during the recent 2022 Binhi Awards given by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ), Inc.
“We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the Binhi awardees for your unwavering support to farmers and fisherfolk. Your dedication in crafting inspiring and impactful write-ups truly encourages the Filipino people, including the DA, to strive towards achieving the food security goals set by this administration,” Panganiban said.
With the direction of President and DA Secretary Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on food security, he urged the agriculture journalists to help the government in “increasing productivity and uplifting farmers’ standard of living” through good coverage of agricultural technology innovations.
Competing with agriculture journalists and media institutions, DA agencies including the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) bested entries published and aired from July 2021 to December 2022.
PhilRice was elevated to Binhi Hall of Fame in two categories. It was inducted into the Hall of Fame for winning Best Agricultural Magazine (https://www.philrice.gov.ph/e-magazine/) for five years (2010, 2016-2019) and bagging the Best Agri Info and Media Campaign for six years (2002, 2007, 2014-2017).
As a Hall of Famer, PAJ mentioned that PhilRice is recognized “for its many years of outstanding practice of agricultural journalism and for consistently excelling in the annual Binhi Awards.”
Meanwhile, the official FaceBook page of PhilRice (https://web.facebook.com/DAPhilRice) made history as the first recipient of the Best Agri-related Social Media Page Award.
The Malusog Rice Program (https://web.facebook.com/GoldenRicePh) implemented with the International Rice Research Institute also received the Best Agri-related Advocacy Campaign Award for its initiatives on bringing Golden Rice to Filipino farmers and consumers, which helped secure policy support for the deployment of Malusog Rice across the country. The campaign resulted in the passing of 19 local government unit resolutions in favor of Malusog Rice and other modern biotechnology crops.
Jayson C. Berto was also given a special citation as Photojournalist of the Year during his stint with PhilRice.
With the theme, “Sharpening our pens towards recovery,” the Binhi Awards was chaired by Dr. V. Bruce J. Tolentino, monetary board member of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Fellow judges included Boo Chanco, Philippine Star columnist; Mary Jane Llanes, head of San Miguel Corporation’s media affairs group; Dr. Rogelio P. Matalang, radio station manager; and Dr. Ma. Stella C. Tirol, dean of the College of Development Communication at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
The award was bestowed in cooperation with San Miguel Corporation. SL AgriTech also sponsored one of the categories.
The first Binhi Awards was conducted in 1980 at the Malacañang with President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. as the guest of honor.
