4 research outputs found
Innovating for skills enhancement in agricultural sciences in Africa: The centrality of field attachment programs
Africa remains an intensely agrarian continent, with two-thirds of its people directly or indirectly deriving their livelihood from agriculture. Higher agricultural education has thus emphasised production of graduates with the requisite skills to drive agricultural development. Despite these efforts, too few graduates in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have the employable skills necessary to transition to the labour market. A similar situation is observable among agricultural science graduates, who are vital to serving rural smallholder farmers. Most Colleges of Agriculture in Africa offer field attachment internships in agriculture and related fields but they are largely designed to cater for undergraduate students and are not part of the training programs at graduate level. To ameliorate this gap, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a network of 55 member universities in SSA, designed and rolled out an innovative field attachment program award (FAPA), launched in 2010, to serve graduate students. The FAPA is competitively based and designed to encourage students to follow through with the dissemination of their research and to enable them to link more closely with the communities and agencies working in the geographical area where the research was undertaken.During the period 2010–2015, five grant cycles were successfully implemented and 114 graduate students from 17 countries in SSA awarded. This article discusses the lessons learned during this period by examining two key areas: (1) the application process and implementation of the awards; and (2) the reported outcomes and challenges for grantees. Establishing the award has generated key technical and implementation lessons that the network and individual universities have been able to use to improve and institutionalise processes. Grantees have reported gaining a range of cross-cutting skills in personal mastery, initiative leadership and innovativeness, proactivity, flexibility, communication, analytical capacity, teamwork, networking and advocacy, and technical capacity, particularly in engaging with smallholder farmers. They have also noted significant challenges, in particular around establishing productive and sustainable engagement with smallholder farmers. These outcomes have influenced curricular reviews by member universities, with particular emphasis on these skills sets. Keywords: graduate employability, internships, sub-Saharan Africa, university
Effectiveness of bylaws in supporting sustainable crop intensification: A case of potato farming in Southwestern Uganda
This is a research article assessing the effectiveness of formal and informal bylaws in supporting sustainable crop intensification in potato farming regions of Southwestern UgandaThe study assessed the effectiveness of formal and informal bylaws in supporting sustainable crop intensification in potato farming regions of Southwestern Uganda. An exploratory case-study descriptive design was adopted, involving both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study relied on data from the review of the existing formal and informal bylaws on sustainable crop intensification, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. A total of 41 bylaws were assessed, involving key informants (22) and FDGs (6) respondents who participated in the study. The effectiveness of formal bylaws was high, because of the significant scores (7-8) on individual principles of effective institutions, with the highest principles being principle 2 (18%) and 7 (18%), and lowest being principle 8 (3%). The informal bylaws covered significantly only 2 principles of effective institutions from the total score 3 (100%). That is, principle 7 (37%) and 2 (33%), respectively. The coverage for 6 out of 8 principles was significantly very low. The study found greater levels of effectiveness significant for 7 out of 8 principles of effective institutions on formal bylaws more than informal bylaws (significant for principle 7 and 2 only), and most effective of the principles being principles 2 and 7 on both categories of bylaws. The study demonstrated the importance of both formal and informal bylaws in supporting SCI as both synergised each other in supporting intensification processes. The study recommends adapting existing bylaws to the eight designated principles of institutional effectiveness
Factors influencing implementation of bylaws on sustainable crop intensification: Evidence from potatoes in southwestern Uganda
The study examined the factors for the successful implementation of bylaws on sustainable crop intensification. The study used the new institutionalism theory to examine the implementation of bylaws in the potato cropping system in southwestern Uganda. A mixed model featuring both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used in the study. This involved analysis of primary data. The primary sources were key informants, focus group discussions, and face to face interviews with individual farmers, as well as secondary data sources. Factors influencing the effective implementation of bylaws on sustainable crop intensification at community level included awareness of existing bylaws, availability of extension agents to sensitize and train farmers on bylaws, power relations and conflicts among farmers, and availability of financial resources for procurement of agro-inputs. The factors influencing implementation of bylaws on sustainable crop intensification at the individual level included farmers’ knowledge on bylaws (P = 0.03), farmers’ participation in activities organised by government agencies (P = 0.01), the farmers’ village/location (P = 0.03), farmers’ gender (P = 0.001), farmers’ other occupations (P = 0.01), and income earnings (P = 0.02), support of local councils and technical persons to implement bylaws (P = 0.01), and knowledge on soil and water conservation laws (P = 0.03). Thus, there is need to protect land rights (regardless of gender), create awareness on best practices and bylaws among farmers, and mobilize resources to strengthen formal and informal farmer groups to enhance sustainable crop intensification and economic development of the potato sector