Development communication in the agricultural context

Quebral, NC 2006, Development communication in the agricultural context (1971, with a new foreword), Asian Journal of Communication, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 100-107. Nora Quebral, recognised as one of the pioneers of development communication, defines in this paper the conceptwhat it is and what it is not. This paper was presented in 1971 at the University of the Philippines Los Baos in honour of Dr Dioscoro Umali, a plant breeder, who had made significant contributions in Agriculture in Southeast Asia. This paper comes with a new foreword as reprinted in theAsian Journal of Communication in 2006. Development communication according to Quebral (2006) is: The art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality and the larger fulfillment of the human potential. Quebral argues development communication should be accepted first before it can be used. Hence, the first task of a development communicator is to engage professionals, policymakers and administrators as they can be just as resistant to change and as traditional in their ways of thought (p. 102). Motivation, according to Quebral, is one of the key elements in development communication; hence it acknowledges its strong linkage to education. Like education, it starts with objectives and lays great store in methods. In this paper, Quebral exemplifies how development communication can be used in a development project such as the promotion of the grain processing technology in the Philippines. She emphasises development communication is not just mass media as it should use all forms of communication channels to promote development. The key is to promote development at all levels. It is audienceoriented whose main targets are rural and farm folks (p.102-103) Moreover, Quebral notes, if development communication is not to remain an academic exercise, it should be accorded with financing and staffing.