Towards Impact and Resilience: Transformative Change In and Through Agricultural Education and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa

This book, consisting of 17 chapters, focuses on clarifying the challenges, issues, and priorities of Agricultural Education and Training (AET) in sub-Saharan Africa, and provides suggestions for practical solutions that can help guide organisations interested in furthering AET for agricultural development on the continent. It discusses the African context within which a transformed AET system needs to be located; analyses African and international experiences that are relevant to identified AET needs and challenges; dissects AET models that may hold important lessons; and addresses the main critical issues that will impact upon AET in sub-Saharan Africa. The concluding chapter synthesises the ideas, experiences, and evidence from the preceding chapters in order to highlight critical issues for success as well as possible solutions. The book is uniquely positioned to add to a call to action on AET, to pull together state-of-the-art knowledge from within and outside sub-Saharan Africa, and to advance “out of the box” thinking about the principles, values and character of AET for development, with an emphasis on the models that can help to cultivate leaders and change-makers at all levels of the agricultural sector.

This book is part of a series. View the full series, "Cornell Institute for African Development Series", here.

Professor Frans Swanepoel is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for African Development (IAD), Cornell University, USA, and is the Director of the African Doctoral Academy (ADA), Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Professor Zenda Ofir is a Fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), South Africa, and an International Evaluator in Switzerland.

Professor Aldo Stroebel is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension at the University of the Free State, South Africa, and Executive Director of International Relations and Cooperation at the National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa.

“This book is a clarion call for reinventing Africa’s food systems through agricultural education and training that is ample, entrepreneurial, and empowering. Everyone who cares about African agriculture, from ministers to extensionists to investors, will find a handy summary of the sector’s challenges. They will find also a roadmap to the investments most urgently needed to upgrade AET systems while boosting the talents of the women and men who deliver Africa’s food, nutrition, and agribusinesses. Opportunities for reinvention cannot be overstated. Smallholder farmers depend on it. Africa depends on it. The global food supply depends on it too.”
—Vicki Wilde, Former Director, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD); Senior Programme Officer, Gender and Agriculture, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USA

“The African Union Year of Agriculture and Food Security—2014—is an opportune time to reconsider the continent’s approach to AET, and it is encouraging that this book is being published at this time. The book brings together leading authorities in AET globally and is recommended as an important resource for academic professionals, industry experts, government officials, policy makers, and scholars interested in a vibrant, resilient and effectively functioning AET system for continuous growth of the continent’s development and prosperity.”
—Professor Adipala Ekwamu, Executive Secretary, Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Uganda

“Africa has an extraordinary opportunity to grow and prosper in tomorrow’s world. A continental renaissance in agriculture is at the heart of a noble goal for Africa to feed itself and export to other parts of the world. The editors and contributors advance a compelling case for a transformation in human capital development to assure that this potential becomes reality. Focusing on AET, they analyse African and global experiences and capture critical lessons, responses, and actions needed to spur a new generation of change-makers and leaders across the continent. This is a timely call to action for all those who, led by the African Union, are committed to shaping a new era for African agriculture.”
—Dr Lindiwe Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission, Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), South Africa

Teshome Alemneh

Ponniah Anandajayasekeram

Maureen Bandama

Ralph Christy

Luc D'haese

Canagasaby Devendra

Carl Eicher

Irene Annor Frempong

Marcus Hakutangwi

Johan Jordaan

Edward Mabaya

John Makina