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Enormous changes are affecting African production agriculture, urbanization, and food consumption patterns, requiring new approaches to training and knowledge generation and dissemination to achieve food security. Many agricultural universities and other tertiary agricultural education (TAE) organizations have been slow to respond, hindered by inadequate staffing and facilities and growing competition for funds. However, some African agricultural universities are transforming themselves and are achieving remarkable success. This book documents successful approaches to remaking TAE in Africa to inspire leaders, both formal and informal, of other TAE organizations. It emphasises adaptive strategies and processes creating an internal culture driven by stakeholder needs and where organizational transformation improves the quality and relevance of teaching, research, and outreach. The chapters cover the role of TAE in agricultural transformation, trends in TAE in Africa, solutions to the rigour-versus-relevance dilemma, curriculum design informed by actual and emerging labour market conditions, innovation and entrepreneurship, TAE quality assurance, and networking among TAE institutions.
This book explains and explores how collaborations can be built and strengthened between African universities and farming communities to address real-world contemporary challenges. The book focuses on Community Action Research Platforms, an approach that has successfully enabled African universities to break free of the ivory tower and prove their relevance to society through deep collaborative engagements in targeted agricultural value chains. Developed in a pan-African network of universities (RUFORUM) focused on capacity building in agriculture, the approach has been tested in diverse settings over the last fifteen years. The book draws on the experiences and lessons from 21 different projects initiated by RUFORUM member universities in Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It highlights a critical yet under-utilised role for African universities as collaborators and catalysts for multi-sector solutions. These are solutions that increase productivity, address climate change, develop livelihoods and resilience in rural communities, and promote farmers' access to markets, innovation and trade, while safeguarding biodiversity and enhancing food and nutrition security. The book makes a case for repositioning African universities as fulcrums of development in society, and shares the rich experiences, learnings and scientific findings of diverse researchers, practitioners and students who have been working towards achieving this reality on the ground. This multidisciplinary book holds appeal for university leaders, higher education, agrifood and development specialists, researchers and practitioners, policy-makers and development agencies engaged in African agriculture and rural development, higher education and sustainable growth.
"Millions of Africans spend their entire lives poor, hungry, and malnourished, and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, either directly or indirectly. Despite its potential to drive economic growth and poverty reduction, however, African agricultural development has remained disappointing-whether because of underinvestment or poor returns to investments. This book, Institutional Economics Perspectives on African Agricultural Development, is inspired by the conviction that effective African agricultural development requires building better institutions. It provides an accessible synthesis of new institutional economics theory and research into understanding and improving African agriculture, particularly smallholder agriculture. Interspersing theory with case studies from a wide range of countries, the book addresses such policy issues as how markets for different commodities and services function in different political, cultural, and economic contexts. It not only makes an important contribution to the existing literature, but also provides development practitioners, policymakers, and graduate students working-or intending to work-in these fields with essential knowledge and tools for addressing these challenges. OVERVIEW: Theoretical and Conceptual Framework; Exchange in Goods and Services; Natural Resources Management; and An Institutional Perspective on the State: Its Role and Challenges."
Africa is unlikely to register significant developmental advances. Recognizing this reality, African governments adopted in 2002 a comprehensive Africa agriculture development program under the auspices of New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). This program states that larger investments in agricultural research, extension, and education systems are required to achieve the targeted increase in agricultural output of 6 percent a year over the next 20 years. The World Bank initiated a series of studies on agricultural education and training (AET) in 2005. These comprised six thematic studies that in turn drew on analyses of 15 country cases, a survey of donor financing trends, an operational review of Bank investments, a survey of the literature, an annotated bibliography, and consultations with stakeholders and donors. The purpose of this report is to synthesize the findings of this research and gives a set of strategic measures for strengthening the contribution of AET to agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The target audiences are African practitioners and policymakers concerned with boosting food supply and agricultural output, donor representatives, and World Bank staff. This report presents a case for increased investment in AET, analyzes issues in the subsector, and outlines possible options for policies and interventions to build skills and capacities appropriate for the changing circumstances of African agriculture in the 21st century. The report is organized as follows: chapter one gives the context for agricultural education and training in Africa; chapter two presents agricultural education is vital for African development; chapter three presents African agricultural education and training in perspective; chapter four gives constraints on building AET capacity; chapter five focuses on what guidance can global experience provide; chapter six provides priorities for modernizing agricultural education and training; chapter seven gives approaches vary by AET level; and chapter eight focuses on the time to act is now.