The document discusses capacity building opportunities and future directions for agricultural training and education (TAE) in East, Central, and Southern Africa. It notes the critical need for responsive agricultural research and high-performing graduates to achieve sustainable productivity growth. While there are strong networks supporting TAE, investments remain uncoordinated and limited. Moving forward, it recommends developing sustainable financing, strengthening human resources, restoring quality of higher education through innovative teaching methods, and enhancing partnerships and regional collaboration for comprehensive capacity building strategies.

1. Capacity building in the East,
Central and Southern African TAE
landscape: Opportunities and
future directions
Capacity building in the East,
Central and Southern African TAE
landscape: Opportunities and
future directions
Ms Nodumo Dhlamini
6th
FARA Agricultural Science Week
16th
July 2013 – ACCRA, GHANA

2. The HypothesesThe Hypotheses
 Capacity for responsive research and
training of high performing graduates is
critical
 Broad but practical training of post-graduate
students is key
 Achieving rapid and sustainable agricultural
productivity growth is essential to raising overall
economic growth and meeting the MDGs
 The welfare of smallholder farmers throughout
much of Africa remains linked to agriculture. Food
Security achievable through support for smallholder
driven research

3. LandscapeLandscape
• Strong TAE Actor support in ECSA- RUFORUM,
FARA, ANAFE, AAU, NEPAD, CTA, AGRA, ……..
• Uncoordinated investments (and limited
investments) in the TAE in ECSA - at times there is
duplication of efforts
• Investment challenges: Donor dependency
leading to volatility
• Capacity challenges: High staff turnover - Staff
departures and an aging pool of well-qualified
researchers is a concern in ECSA; Limited training
opportunities - SSA universities face constraints
such as increased workloads, affecting quality of
teaching and student supervision

4. Examples of leading Agricultural Capacity Building
Networks in Africa
Examples of leading Agricultural Capacity Building
Networks in Africa
Regional Universities
Forum for Capacity
Building in Agriculture
(RUFORUM)
University network:
32univs. in 18 East,
Central & Southern Africa
countries
•Competitive MSc (375)
research grants
•Collaborative PhD
training (85)
•Community-action
research program. &
institutional grants
•National stakeholder
forums
AERC: Collaborative MSc
in Agricultural &
Applied Economics
(CMAAE)
Network of
departments: 18 univs.
in 12 countries
•MSc (242)
•Shared electives facility
•African & external
subject specialists
• PhD (11) support
•department building
grants
• professional peer
review
AGRA: Education for
African Crop
Improvement (EACI)
Network of
departments: 10 univs. &
2 regional hubs for 13
countries
•Redeployment to
national programs of
PhD (80) and MSc (170)
crop scientists and
breeders
•Cornell U. back-up
Biosciences eastern and
central Africa (BecA)
Hub and nodes model :
One hub & 5
institutional nodes for
17 countries
•Top expertise &
facilities
•Visiting scientists (60)
•MSc/PhD students (100)
•Alumni lead research
programs at home
universities; return to
BecA as visiting scientists
supervising own grad
students
The African Network for
Agriculture,
Agroforestry and
Natural Resources
Education (ANAFE)
A network of 132
educational institutions
in 37 African countries
whose objective is to
strengthen the teaching
of multi-disciplinary
approaches to land
management.

5. Source: Bloom, et al. 2006. Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa.
Linking higher education and developmentLinking higher education and development

6. Transforming Africa’s agriculture: The need for a strong
innovation capacity
Transforming Africa’s agriculture: The need for a strong
innovation capacity
Observation: Full potential of Africa’s arable land is from 150 – 700% per region, =
300m. Ha.
1.Economy-wide challenges: Inadequate investments in non-conventional inputs
especially public goods (transport, education) and policies that stimulate private
initiative and market development.
2.Agriculture sector challenges: Inadequate or inappropriate use of conventional
inputs such as land, labor, fertilizer, seed, pesticides
Source: Hugo Ahlenius, 2006. UNEP/GRID-
Arendal
Source: Henao, J. and Baanante, C. 2006

7. Tilting the imbalance for agricultural growthTilting the imbalance for agricultural growth

8. 8
– Demand increasingly exceeds capacity- improved
primary, secondary education programmes;
– Quality Issues: lack of resources, human capacity –
proliferation of TAE institutions; burgeoning private
programmes
– Inequity: gender, socio-economic
– Missing linkages with labor markets- growing private
and civil society sectors;
– Mis-match with development needs- skills mix
– Inadequate incentive structure, lack of financing
Critical TAE Challenges exist in Africa

9. Challenges cont…Challenges cont…
• Problematic Curriculum review and reform
processes and implementation
• Agricultural Development hampered by limited
capacity. Limited funding to support post-
graduate training in African universities.
• Ageing Agricultural Scientists
• Mandate from African Heads of States to
implement CAADP as a concerted and
comprehensive strategy for achieving Vision for
African Agriculture

10. Opportunities and Future DirectionsOpportunities and Future Directions

11. Underpinnings for TAE investmentUnderpinnings for TAE investment
Consider:
• Fragile environments - Vulnerability may increase
• Food security & Sovereignty issues - 54% in Africa
living in urban centers by 2030
• How to tap into local resources - Africa’s per
capita income is increasing in tandem with other
developing countries, IMF forecasts Africa will
grab seven of the top ten places over the next
five years

12. Moving forward: Future Directions (I)Moving forward: Future Directions (I)
 Sustainable Financing Models: Mobilize greater
government support for TAE
 Develop policy reforms to facilitate private-sector
engagement and participation
 Human resource development to assure the
success of CAADP : Halt the prevailing high
turnover of agricultural scientists; Strengthen
institutional capacity to create an enabling
environment
 Restore the quality of higher education in
agriculture - develop innovative teaching /
training methods – harness ICT; practical field
based learning; Harmonize Quality Assurance
systems

13. Moving forward: Future Directions (II)Moving forward: Future Directions (II)
 Data collection and analysis to support the TAE
agenda in ECSA. Audit what has worked well in
terms of the higher education successful models
and scale up
 Advocacy and constant lobbying for increased
support and engagement of the African higher
education networks in policy making and
programme implementation for agricultural
training and research by the AUC, RECs, NEPAD-
PCA and FARA.
 Strengthen the collaboration and innovation
platforms for higher educations to still remain
relevant

14. Moving forward: Future Directions (III)Moving forward: Future Directions (III)
 Strengthening capacities of universities for
implementing SYSTEMIC CHANGES
 Strengthening partnerships for capacity building
initiatives – based in comparative advantages
 A comprehensive assessment of institutional strengths
and weaknesses of member universities - - -needed for
design of a comprehensive and coordinated Capacity
building Strategy for the region (RUFORUM, ANAFE,
ASARECA, ETC)
 Strengthening M&E - Establishment of a “UNIT” to
monitor what is happening in the very DYNAMIC
landscape, and coordinating responses in terms of
Capacity Building.

15. Regional Universities Forum for Capacity
Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM)
Plot 151 Garden Hill, Makerere University
Main Campus
P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
Tel.: +256-414-535939
Email: secretariat@ruforum.org
URL: http://www.ruforum.org