Three (Post-secondary Agricultural Education and Training) Challenges and the Concept of ‘Workforce Education Systems’

Abstract

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) of the Africa Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU/NEPAD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, held in January 2008, a conference on the subject of ‘Convergence between Social Service Provision and Productivity Enhancing Investments in Development Strategies’ with a view to improving the complementaries between investments in social sciences and those aimed directly at raising agricultural productivity. The present paper is intended as part of a seminar series in this regard to be held at IFPRI, 9 October 2007, and serves as the basis for a paper to be presented at the CAADP/IFPRI conference in January 2008 in Durban, South Africa.

Keywords:

• Agricultural education
• Agricultural training
• Africa
• Workforce development

Acknowledgements

The present paper was written for an IFPRI seminar and as the basis for a contribution to the CAADP conference in January 2008, held in Durban, South Africa.

Notes

1. The acronym PSAET is generally used throughout this paper. For those who find the acronym cumbersome, the alternative is to write ‘post-secondary AET’. The distinction between AET and PSAET signals that AET refers to the entire formal system of agricultural education that embraces secondary, tertiary, in-service, distance and lifelong components, while PSAET refers specifically to post-secondary agricultural education and training.

2. During 1987-1997 donor support for the “knowledge triangle” of education, research and extension diminished. Agricultural education and training was only 2% of the Bank's $4.8 billion investment in agriculture and rural development. Since 1998 only 3.1% of Bank lending for agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa went to post-secondary agricultural education and training. The World Bank is the largest investor in agricultural research and development, and yet the total loan commitment of US$ 2.2 billion in the research, extension and education portfolio for 2002 committed only one percent to education, and of this total loan commitment to research and development Africa received only 24 percent or approximately US$ 200 million (Rygnestad, Rajalahti and Pehu, 2005).

3. For international communications on training courses and connections, see “The Drum Beat” http://www.comminit.com/training2006.html

4. See Research Program Grant Proposal by Javier Ekboir, IFPRI-ISNAR Division, on “Strengthening the Ability of Competitive Grants to Foster Innovation in Agriculture, 2005.

5. The main principles for demand-oriented research are that it be driven by user demand and accountable to users. Indicators for success would be that farmers use the research and gain greater income as result of use.

6. City in Uganda.

7. The Agricultural University of Norway's international gateway Noragric is the Norwegian University of Life Sciences international gateway for its seven departments, as well as for the Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine and for Norwegian Agricultural Research International. Noragric focuses on agricultural development and livelihood security; biodiversity and natural resource management; and on rights, conflicts, poverty and well-being through research, education and assignments.