Agricultural education and training in South Africa: An overview

Major political, economic and social changes are in progress in South Africa. The present agricultural education, training, extension and research systems will have to be restructured to allow for an expanding clientele base and a better coordinated system. The process of democratisation is expected to influence such systems fundamentally. The demand for participation in programme design and evaluation will require outreach programmes linking rural communities to laboratories, lecture rooms and policy‐making. Affirmative action programmes, to enable a more representative professional corps, will direct training programmes to include part‐time and distance‐training systems, as well as short course presentations. The proliferation of agricultural training policies and institutions should be attended to urgently, partly because it is costly and partly owing to the inequities of the present system. The demand for trained agriculturists in Southern Africa provides a basis for cooperation in the subcontinent. It is expected that cooperation will be mainly between universities at postgraduate level along the lines already introduced by the SADC universities and will comprise joint research activities. Cooperation between South Africa and the Southern African Centre for Cooperation in Agricultural Research and Training (SACCAR) and other international organisations (eg, IFPRI, SPAAR and ICRISAT) will be important.

Notes

Director, Deputy Director, School of Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) and Dean, Faculty of Biological and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria respectively.