Media , Family Farming a nd S ustainable Development in Mozambique

ABSTRACT
This article examines how the media representation of family farming hardly inspires people to venture into it, but rather subtly glorifies urban lifestyles, thus reinforcing rural-urban migration. This unsustainable population growth in cities worsens rural and urban poverty levels, inequalities become more pronounced and the proliferation of informal settlements without accessible drinking water and deplorable sanitation invariably destroys the environment, threatening the sustainability of communities and their resources: sustainable development. Although family farming is the panacea for the triple global challenge of food insecurity, poverty and inequality, and for the sustainability of communities and their resources, the media representation expressed in words, concepts, images and advertisements barely portrays family farming in a positive way, even when they constitute the main source of income and employment for the majority of the population. In methodological terms, in addition to reviewing published works on media, family farming and sustainable development, this study carried out content analysis of print media messages to quantify, analyze and determine the presence of words, concepts, images and advertisements in their representation of family farming with regard to sustainable development. Purposive sampling was used for face-to-face interviews with key informants, especially reporters/journalists, to provide insight into why print media messages portraying family farming receive less coverage, while urban lifestyles receive more, which influences the people's perception of family farming versus urban lifestyles. The results showed that the print media not only underrepresents, but also misrepresents family farming to the detriment of sustainable development. Furthermore, media ownership patterns also influence their editorial policy, which has a negative impact on the media representation of family farming for sustainable development in rural and urban areas, as well as nationally and globally.
Keywords: print media; family farming; rural-urban migration; sustainable development