Excellent City Leadership, Deficient PH Journalism! On Butuan City’s "AgriBoost" Being Among 15 Winners In Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge 2021

Yes, Butuan City’s AgriBoost is a Winner in Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge 2021; No, it is not the Grand Prize Winner –only 1 among the 15 winning cities from 13 countries chosen by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

(image from PhilStar.com, Mayor Lagnada 3rd from right)

Of the many reports I googled on the results of the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge(GMC), only 4 got the news right.

Most PH media said Butuan City was the Grand Prize Winner of the Bloomberg GMC, which is very wrong: Butuan is only 1 among 15 winners chosen from a group of 50 Champion Cities. This journalist cannot forgive that journalistic untruth, as googling would have corrected the error. Does this mean Filipino journalists are Lazy Juans?

Pola Rubio says, “Butuan City, Philippines is among the 15 winning cities of the 2021-2022 Global Mayors Challenge announced by Bloomberg Philanthropies Tuesday” (18 Jan, “Butuan Wins Bloomberg Philanthropies Funding For City Programs,” PH.news.yahoo.com):

“AgriBoost,” the city’s winning proposal, is an agribusiness model innovation that improves the agricultural market by giving farmers predictive data to make decisions about the type and quantity of crops to plant. According to Bloomberg, it considered Butuan’s idea on agriculture and marketing as compelling because of its ambitious goals that could be achieved short-term through the initiative.

AgriBoost, ambitious but achievable – with farmers, their cooperatives and marketers collaborate for the good of all, including food consumers. My congratulations to Butuan City Mayor Ronnie Vicente Lagnada.

On his part, Alexander Lopez of the Philippine News Agency (PNA) says (19 Jan 2022, “Bloomberg Win Big Honor For Butuan: Mayor,” PNA.gov.ph):

AgriBoost is an innovation designed to address the agri-business value chain issues such as boosting the competitiveness of farmers through technical and resource support, demand-driven production, and reliable farm gate pricing.

Government has to support the farmers technically and financially; farmers have to produce according to predicted demands; and growers have to enjoy reliable farm gate prices. On top of that, consumers must enjoy affordable quality vegetables, virtually increasing their purchasing power.

It also strengthens the agricultural hub in the city that helps catalyze market forces, the orchestration of collaborative planning and decision-making among the value chain partners.

ANN says, “The goal of AgriBoost is to ensure that the city’s residents have enough healthy and affordable food while farmers and suppliers receive good prices for their produce” (Author Not Named, 18 Jan 2022, “Butuan, Philippines Wins Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Mayors Challenge, journal.com.ph).

Dwight De Leonsays (“Butuan Wins In Bloomberg’s Global Innovation Contest,” 19 Jan 2022, Rappler.com):

“This brings mixed feelings of pride and honor as we dedicate this win to all of us,” said Butuan City Mayor Ronnie Vicente Lagnada, in an address to city hall employees.

As with the other winning 14 cities, Butuan City will be awarded $1 million for urban innovation. Also, Butuan City will receive technical support and coaching for 3 years.

Now, is this Bloomberg-news journalistic incident telling me PH journalists have hyperactive minds and super-lazy hands?@517

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