Nine journalists have been honoured with the BARF Media Award 2025 in recognition of their outstanding investigative and feature reporting on agriculture.
The awards were presented recently at a ceremony held at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in Farmgate, Dhaka. The winners received crests, certificates and honorary cheques. The Bangladesh Agriculture Reporters Forum (BARF) introduced the award for the first time to recognise excellence in agricultural journalism.
This year’s recipients are DM Nazmul Hossain of Jago News, Shahadat Hossain of The Business Standard, Saiful Masum of Ajker Patrika, Shahid Ahmed Sohag of Independent Television, Faruk Ahmad Arif of Protidiner Bangladesh, Zahidur Rahman of Samakal, Ferdous Rahman of ATN News, Yasin Rahman of Jugantor, and Sajid Arafat of Ekhon Television.
According to the organisers, the award was introduced to recognise outstanding contributions to agricultural journalism and encourage journalists to produce high-quality investigative and analytical reports on the country’s agriculture sector. A panel of judges selected the nine winning reports from more than 100 entries published in 2025.
The event was chaired by Rafiqul Islam Sabuj, President of BARF, and moderated by its General Secretary, Kawsar Azam.
Dr Md Abdus Salam, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, attended as the chief guest. Special guests included former
Agriculture Secretary Anwar Faruk, Md Abdur Rahim, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension, and agriculturist Mohammad Masum, President of the Bangladesh Seed Association.
Among others, Ahmed Iqbal Chowdhury, General Secretary of the Retired BCS Agriculture Cadre Association, Mainul Hasan Sohel, General Secretary of the Dhaka Reporters Unity, fruit specialist Dr Mehedi Masud, and Dr Abu Noman Faruk, Professor at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, also addressed the event.
Speakers said journalists play a crucial role in highlighting the challenges, opportunities, innovations and realities of Bangladesh’s agriculture sector. They expressed hope that such recognition would enhance the quality of agricultural journalism and inspire more responsible and investigative reporting.
