[ Agricultural research ]

Indispensable institutions

For too long, donors and international development agencies have been focusing exclusively on primary education. Agricultural colleges and universities must not be neglected, however. They have an important role to play in the fight against poverty, particularly in rural areas. Home-grown specialists are needed to raise productivity, cope with climate change and improve standards of life in general.

[ By Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere and Joachim von Braun ]

In appreciation of agriculture’s role in national development, international donors used to invest heavily in universities and faculties of agriculture (Hobbs et al. 1998). From 1964 to 1990, the World Bank financed 41 projects to the tune of $ 713 million, supporting universities (both agricultural and general) in 25 countries. However, the World Bank later reduced such programmes, focusing on primary education instead. It argued that the returns from primary education were higher than those from tertiary education. Many donor agencies followed that example.

Whereas the reasoning may indeed have been sound for some countries with very low literacy and numeracy at the time, the focus on primary education is certainly outdated today. Meaningful progress towards knowledge economies will not be possible without higher education. The opportunities of globalisation are largely bypassing rural areas of developing countries; and that will remain true so long as higher education in agriculture stays neglected.

All over the world, poverty is predominantly a rural problem. Agriculture and related industries have a greater impact on poor people’s fates than any other business sector. Without progress here, the UN Millennium Development Goals in the fight against poverty will not be met.

Higher-education institutions are highly relevant for rural and agricultural development. First of all, they train the next generation of experts, researchers and extension specialists. Moreover, their research is relevant for boosting rural economies. Some universities directly engage in extension work. Messages from faculties help to disseminate new insights to farmers. Some universities even organise farmer field schools.

Through advocacy and dialogue, universities contribute to basing policies on evidence. Moreover, universities can also help to monitor and evaluate projects and programmes.

Interrelated challenges

Because of their vital role, there is a need to beef up universties’ performance. Otherwise, benefits will not be maximised, and rural progress will stay below potential. Three issues are vital.

• Universities need to improve their research and become more relevant components of the agricultural innovation system, which is marked by non-university institutions at both national and international levels. By doing so, universities can reconcile their science and education mandates. Otherwise, they will not become the drivers of innovation they should be.
• Higher-education curricula need to pay more attention to rural-sector needs in general. Most universities in developing countries are located in urban agglomerations. Too often, they are simply not aware of the issues the poor in rural areas are struggling with. The establishment of farmer-scholar links could improve the relevance and effectiveness of university research, and turn institutions of higher learning into resource centres for rural communities.
• Third, universities must scale up their activities to attract and produce well-trained graduates. Many countries are suffering from a lack of qualified experts.

As these challenges are interrelated, they should be tackled holistically. Various approaches to improving research and networking make sense.

• Thanks to public-private partnerships, the private sector is increasingly becoming involved in agricultural research and development. As agriculture becomes more profitable, that involvement should increase further and generate funds for university-based research too. Unfortunately, and unlike competitors in rich nations, only a few developing-country universities are taking advantage of this trend so far.
• Agro-business parks connected to university campuses are another sensible way to foster partnerships. The best chance to reduce rural poverty lies in enhancing productivity in post-harvest operations. Universities can play an important role in adding value. As many faculties have understood, they must not only reach out to farmers, but can also contribute to improving the industries that process agricultural outputs. Companies that produce agricultural inputs or deliver agriculture-related services are relevant as well. “Agro-business parks” are clusters of such companies, formed around an educational institution. Such parks serve the flow of information of knowledge and information between university scientists and the private sector. (Roseboom, Elliott and Minde, 2005).
• Though traditional university programmes have long been at the heart of higher learning, several universities are beginning to offer short and executive courses for policymakers and other agriculture-sector actors. The idea is to expand the knowledge base for agriculture and rural development, and thus improve the sector’s performance.
• Finally, there are opportunities for universities to innovate through multidisciplinary initiatives. The agricultural research agenda is becoming ever more complex. In fields such as bio- or nanotechnology, there is an increasing demand for exchange with physics, engineering and medical science, but also law, sociology, economics and even philosophy and ethics.

In terms of networking, there are some promising developments, for instance in Africa (see box below). Nonetheless, many universities, particularly in poor countries, are still hardly in a position to rise to the challenges. Colleges will certainly need more money to rise to their full potential, but unless they invest their resources well, any amount of additional funding will be of little help.

Steps must be taken to improve teaching methods and curricula for students enrolled in agricultural programmes. Currently, many universities only resort to lecturing and final exams. They do not teach students adequate problem-solving abilities. To do so, they would have to resort to experimental learning, working in small groups and undertaking more case studies.

For lecturers to spend more time on research and advocacy, they need to be relieved of some burdens such as tutorials or class tests. Graduate assistants should be entrusted with relevant assignments.

Moreover, too few universities offer courses in policy analysis. Graduates leave school with little knowledge of rural-development affairs. Even courses in agricultural economics tend to skip the macroeconomic topics that would enable students to link agriculture to the general economy. Neither the knowledge of statistics nor skills in information technology are adequately taught.

Another smart innovation would be to allow students to participate in curriculum development. Students could then serve as bridges between universities and farms, conveying extension messages on the one hand and gaining practical experience on the other. Knowledge gained from farmers could enrich university curricula. Such an approach would help to build knowledge bases beneficial to both the universities and the farming communities.

A case of market failure

Obviously, there is a great need for university-based innovation in agriculture. However, the subject has become somewhat unattractive to university students. Recently, fields such as biofuels, high-value agriculture or farm-related information technology have generated new interest. Nonetheless, agricultural studies are too often viewed as a last resort for those who did not make it into programmes such as medicine, pharmacy or engineering.

One reason for students’ interest in agriculture waning is graduates’ lack of employment opportunities. Nor do they have substantial career opportunities in rich countries – unlike engineers or medical doctors, for instance. Self-employed farming, on the other hand, is normally not very profitable, which, in turn, is a consequence of national governments and international agencies under-investing in the sector as well as in relevant research. That salaries at research organisations and universities are often non-competitive, exacerbates the problem.

Today, the number of specifically trained postgraduates is too small to ensure the sustainability of agricultural development in many poor countries (von Braun and Babu, 2004). This is a case of market failure – both on the demand and supply side. Steps must be taken to reverse the situation for agriculture to rise to its vital role in development.

Developments affecting both the demand and supply sides of food and agriculture have accentuated the need for innovation. Rising per-capita incomes, growing populations and urbanisation are increasing the demand for food in developing countries. Moreover, biofuels are becoming economically attractive, and fields used to cultivate them are no longer available for producing food. On the supply side, climate change is expected to impact on agricultural production, ecosystems and water. These challenges must be tackled.

Universities are expected to play a big role in addressing all these issues. A global networked system is needed to facilitate partnerships across universities – including distant learning. The Global Food and Agriculture University of the CGIAR serves that purpose (see box below). However, agricultural programmes in developing countries need to improve in quality and relevance, and need to significantly scale up in order to facilitate growth opportunities and address the sustainability challenges surrounding natural-resource management.

Appropriate technologies must be developed, tested locally, adapted and then disseminated. These opportunities and challenges fascinate young people. They must be communicated more effectively.

Box: Long-distance connections

New models of graduate training have emerged in Africa. They prove that networks can play an important role. Some of these networks offer traditional, face-to-face courses, while others focus on distance learning.

• RUFORM, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture, consists of 12 universities based in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They have teamed up to offer graduate programmes. The colleges best equipped for particular courses have become regional hubs for those courses, catering to students from the entire region. All students pay the fees required in their home country.
• CMAAE, the Collaborative Master of Science Programme in Agricultural and Applied Economics in Eastern and Southern Africa, is running a competitive research grant system, allowing students to get funding for thesis research.
• ANAFE, the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resource Education, had 128 member colleges and universities in 34 countries last year. It assists member institutions to produce graduates that are capable of developing, disseminating and implementing agricultural practices suitable for African farmers and solving natural resource management problems in a holistic manner.
• SISERA, the Secretariat for Institutional Support for Economic Research in Africa (SISERA) was established in 1997 by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and later obtained multi-donor support. Based in Dakar, Senegal, SISERA provides financial assistance to 19 research centres in Africa.
• SADAOC, Securité Alimentaire Durable en Afrique de l’Ouest Centrale, was formed in 2001, networks tertiary institutions in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo with collaborators in the Netherlands. Registered as a Foundation, SADAOC undertakes research, capacity strengthening and policy dialogue in member countries.
• Go-FAU, the Global Open Food and Agriculture University (GO-FAU), is an initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. IFPRI is coordinating this partnership of universities in developing and developed countries. It aims to improve teaching via distant-education elements and is involved in developing relevant and re-usable learning objects at the post-graduate level. The initiative “Building Africa’s Scientific and Institutional Capacity” of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) complements GO-FAU activities. It helps universities build capacity for teaching at the undergraduate level.

Many developing countries have taken up distance education as a viable option for delivering tertiary education. Open universities have become common, and many traditional universities have added distance education to their activities as a way of combating the issue of large student numbers on campus.

Distance education enables a people to pursue university education without leaving their localities or their jobs for full-time face-to-face education. Although improvements in informaiton and communitications technology are facilitating the adoption of distance education in many universities around the world, the rapidly expanding open universities of developing countries also need constant strengthening in agricultural curricula.

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D+C, 2007/09, Focus, Page 322