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Admin
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#1 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 16:27 |
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MESSAGE FROM THE MODERATORS / MESSAGE DES MODERATEURS
EN FRACAIS CI-BAS
Dear Participants,
One of the Initiative's goals is to develop in higher education the human and institutional capacity to be a driving force for Africa's transformation and economic, social and political development. The economies of Sub-Saharan Africa are largely agricultural and rural, and the vast majority of small farmers are women.
Increased food production, access to and availability of food have a direct impact on the health, welfare and productivity of the population, particularly women and children. For example, malnutrition diminishes cognitive and physical development of children that has broad implications for their future welfare and productivity and, in sum, impacts national economic growth. The development of a business environment that enables entrepreneurs to succeed and connects farmers to markets, coupled with an enabling environment, supports small farmers, particularly women. The development of the rural sector and improved food systems are affected and related to all the focus areas defined in the Initiative:
* agriculture, environment and natural resources
* engineering
* science and technology
* health
* education and teacher training
* business, management, and economics
In order to start discussion on this topic we ask that you respond to the following questions:
* If the Initiative is to impact the most people and meet its goals to foster long-term development, how might the Initiative best address rural economic growth and food systems issues through the different fields of focus?
* What changes, including relationships with stakeholders, are needed in higher education to ensure that the results benefit all farmers, including small-holders and the rural sector in general?
During the remaining ten days of this e-consultation process, the simultaneous French translations of postings will not be possible. We will make every effort to post French translations within two days. Thank you for your understanding regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Olusola Oyewole
Anne-Claire Hervy
___________________________________________
EN FRANCAIS
L'un des objectifs de l'initiative est de développer dans l'enseignement supérieur les capacités humaines et institutionnelles à être une force motrice pour la transformation de l'Afrique et les droits économiques, sociaux et politiques de développement. Les économies d'Afrique sub-saharienne sont en grande partie agricoles et rurales, et la grande majorité des petits agriculteurs sont des femmes.
L’augmentation de la production alimentaire, l'accès à et la disponibilité de la nourriture ont un impact direct sur la santé, le bien-être et la productivité de la population, en particulier des femmes et des enfants. Par exemple, la malnutrition diminue le développement cognitif et physique des enfants qui a de larges implications pour leur bien-être futur et de la productivité et, en fin de compte, le développement économique. Le développement d'un environnement favorable aux entreprises qui permet aux entrepreneurs de réussir et relier les agriculteurs aux marchés, soutient les petits agriculteurs, en particulier les femmes. Le développement du secteur rural et l'amélioration des systèmes alimentaires concerne tous les domaines d'action prioritaires définis dans l'Initiative:
· l'agriculture, l'environnement et les ressources naturelles
· l’ingénierie
· la science et la technologie
· la santé
· l'éducation et la formation des enseignants
· la gestion et l'économie
Afin de commencer la discussion sur ce sujet nous vous demandons de répondre aux questions suivantes:
1. Pour que l'initiative ai un impact sur le maximum nombre d’individus et atteint ses objectifs de favoriser le développement à long terme, comment l'Initiative devrait-elle soutenir le développement économique rurale et les systèmes alimentaires à travers les différents domaines d'activité?
2. Quels changements, y compris vis à vis des relations avec les parties prenantes, sont nécessaires dans l'enseignement supérieur à veiller à ce que les résultats profitent à tous les agriculteurs, y compris les petits agriculteurs et le secteur rural en général?
Last edited on Mon Oct 20th, 2008 21:14 by Admin
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inyambe
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#2 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 17:09 |
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For Agriculture
If small-scale farmers have to benefit, then it is necessary first for higher education to consult at grass root levels. I have in mind the idea of tapping into local indegenous knowledge. In Zambia, for example, farming is depended on rainfall and if agriculture has to be boosted irrigation should be developed. However, the current technology is expensive to trickle down to the village level. This is where higher learning should come in through research on developing simpler and cheaper technology which is affordable to the common man. This can only be possible if a linkage is established between the higher learning institution and the community. In Zambia this is possible through the main farming associations available.
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jakin2
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#3 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 17:10 |
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Rural farmers need to be assisted to move beyond subsitence farming. The situation is obviously more dire in some parts of Africa than in others. However, because of the financial constraints and challenges that would be associated with growing an agro-business out of subsistence farming, any effort at encouraging collective and cooperative farming in the most needy parts of Africa would be right on the money and most welcome. It would seem to me that this is the forte of land-grant institutions in the United States, and this is one area I believe the Initiative could be most productive.
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jackshroder
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#4 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 17:41 |
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| My overwhelming impression when I was doing fieldwork and teaching in Malawi was that many farmers in the uplands needed to be educated a little bit about how to keep their soil from eroding away, as well as about adding organic matter back into the soil to keep it more fertile. The most common and easiest way to remove the elephant grass while killing off the deadly snakes was of course to set it on fire, even if it was not all that conducive to maintaining soil fertility. Fires also bake the soil and make it hard to till. Working with the farmers to try different modes of behavior was very difficult under these circumstances. Farmers everywhere are very pragmatic however, so if they can be shown that something actually works, they will generally try it for themselves. That is where agricultural extension agents come in in our own country. Set up in African universities where agricultural extension may not now be functioning too well or well enough is a very good way to go to improve lives and livliehoods. A survey of the effectiveness of agricultural extension should be done. Geography departments should assess agriculture and see what farmers want.
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gkperrier
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#5 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 18:13 |
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The specific answers to these questions will need to be worked out with local institutions and rural communities because they are context dependent; however, I think some guidelines can be suggested.
A program aimed at increasing economic growth in rural areas and food system issues must aim to help producers achieve their agricultural and conservation goals. This would seem obvious, but in many cases the production goals of households are not known and when known are ignored. For example, a household might put a high priority on reducing risk and costs in order to survive a dry year, while the university community is focused solely on increased yield, which might also increase costs and risk.
It has been my experience that African HE institutions have difficulty interacting directly with rural households and the classic agricultural extension role of US Land Grant and 1890 institutions has not worked in Africa. This suggests that intermediary organizations, such as community-based organizations or local non-governmental organizations (NGO), need to be part of the partnership and become important stakeholders in the process. I helped organized a BIFAD meeting focused around the university – local NGO partnership model and cases presented at the meeting clearly showed that the two-way flow of information (university to farmer and farmer to university) was greatly enhanced with this model.
Households within a rural community will vary greatly in their make-up, resources, and goals; and thus the skills, knowledge, and opportunities provided by HE institutions needs to address the problems and issues of the various types of households not just one type of household. Communities have gatekeepers who usually capture most of the benefits from interactions with HE institutions. HE institutions and their partnering local organizations need to be able to reach beyond the gatekeepers, especially if they hope to help poorer households.
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DUA
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#6 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 18:52 |
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When one thinks of nutrition one must also think of CLEAN & POTABLE WATER. While the definition of clean water may vary in different locals (to use for washing oneself, clothes, dishes...) we most likely can agree on what potable water is. One of the primary reasons for child mortality under the age of 5 years in West Africa is dysentery. There are still many villages without good pumping wells providing potable water, and while the various nations are making an effort to provide at least one good well in each village, there are those who live in a more rural areas that need to walk great distances to get drinking water. Without adequate water intake dehydration, elevated blood pressure and renal failure can occur. So when we talk about nurtition please speak to potable water sources as well.
Other nutrition connected issues include: use of local fruits and vegetables, proper food preparation, hand hygiene, food storage ~ especially keeping foods covered to protect them from flies and bacteria. Education is a key here. One can provide all the food people could want or need and with such missing information the food will be of little use.
The question to put forth for very poor persons then is: is it better to eat the food or is it more lucrative to sell it to others and have some cash money in hand? It has astounded me at times travelling through West Africa, when you see bags of grain, rice, corn in little road side shops that have UNESCO, UNICEF, etc on the bags and people were given them for feeding their families or villages but would rather sell them on the roadside either in total or subdivided into portions for their neighbors to buy, yet their own families are still going to sleep at night hungry...
Once again we come back to community and health education! There needs to be investment in education, not just in formal schools but in more personal settings in villages and towns, churches, business groups, etc.
DUA
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DUA
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#7 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 18:59 |
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A thought about target populations... In Ghana women usually run the markets in the central regions of villages and towns, while men tend to work in fields, fishing, etc or drive the produce to market. Women who have market stalls to sell their goods are probably the group to target, with more informal education one-on-one. Just a thought!
dua
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TonyVodacek
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#8 Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 20:35 |
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[I am answering these questions below from a science and technology perspective]
*If the Initiative is to impact the most people and meet its goals to foster long-term development, how might the Initiative best address rural economic growth and food systems issues through the different fields of focus?
The projects we are developing are science and technology projects, so there is usually a clear disjoint with the general agricultural population as earlier posters suggested. Thus, in answer this question, we might consider two approaches. One requires education of the users to the results/outcomes of the science and technology. In the US that is usually the extension services. So I am seconding what was brought up in posts #2, 4, and 5. (In my one recent experience in Africa, the HEI did a fine job of interacting with the local agricultural population).
A second approach that has not been raised is to begin to apply science and technology on top of existing development projects by asking questions about what problems those development projects have not been able to address or questions that have arisen as those development projects mature. Science and technology may provide answers to some of these questions. These questions are best asked of the farmers themselves or the African institution partners, which is a great partnership building activity.
*What changes, including relationships with stakeholders, are needed in higher education to ensure that the results benefit all farmers, including small-holders and the rural sector in general?
In this case, from my science and technology perspective, science and technology outcomes need to inform policy. Small local area demonstration projects become more widely effective when they lead to policy changes. It is important for any country to have institutions that foster the links between science and technology and policy makers. This may be just as much of a problem in the US as it is in Africa.
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yohan
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#9 Posted: Tue Oct 21st, 2008 10:59 |
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It is useful to involve existing Farmer Training Centres for facilitating the provision of short-term trainings for farmers and to introduce them with effective practices in support of food security. The training programs could be also used to provide a range of information beyond agriculture that includes basic health education, adult literacy, and entrepreneurship skills development. Besides, capacity building of extension workers and local officers in management, monitoring and evaluation of agricultural extension programs could contribute to rural economic growth.
Regards,
Yohannes Woldetensae
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Cliff Monahan
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#10 Posted: Tue Oct 21st, 2008 18:28 |
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I agree with Yohan. Inclusion of agricultural technical schools would be an important means of reaching many people through agricultural extension work. This can be implemented in tandem with improved teaching methods; faculty learn better methods for their students who are learning to teach local small stakeholders. 'Learn by doing' is an excellent method to foster student comprehension of all aspects of their discipline.
Many ag technical schools have diverse programs in crops, livestock, forestry and water resources. Improving their ability to convey appropriate messages for that region would be a goal achievable by faculty partnerships and teams of US and African students can implement the programs within the host country. Several of the recipients should be partnerships with agricultural technical schools.
Cliff Monahan
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gperrier
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#11 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 01:18 |
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| The agricultural technical schools I have been involved with in Africa demonstrated two serious flaws. First, they were busy with a one-way transfer of knowledge: intensive production practices into agricultural systems where such practices did not always make sense. For these schools to be effective they must be involved in a two-way dialogue with producers so that instructors understand the set of production systems they are dealing with well enough to identify ways that producers goals can be better obtained. The second problem is that most of the students were male, while much of the agricultural production in Africa is under the prevue of women and thus the school was not reaching the correct audience. This might call for female instructors working with female producers. The old model of a one-way transfer of western agricultural practices to male students needs to be greatly revised if these schools are to have a meaningful impact of African agriculture.
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RobHenderson
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#12 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 13:48 |
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* If the Initiative is to impact the most people and meet its goals to foster long-term development, how might the Initiative best address rural economic growth and food systems issues through the different fields of focus?
* What changes, including relationships with stakeholders, are needed in higher education to ensure that the results benefit all farmers, including small-holders and the rural sector in general?
The “jump-starting” of African development with a single, silver-bullet shot through the economy, society, political culture or region remains a temptation that will continue to drain resources and diminish the prospects for sustainable growth and development. Pilot programs for agriculture generally remain dependent on external resources.
Real growth that builds on organic links to the society at the local level and engage the energy and effort of Africans depend on multiple inputs. Greg Perrier of NOVA mentioned the use of NGOs as delivery mechanisms given their proximity to the ground and local counterparts. Any approach must use the guideposts established earlier in the E-consultation that focus attention on the context and the local actors, focus resources on the training and development efforts of interest and utility to the local communities, and strengthen the strategic objectives of community based development through engagement of existing business with local communities through institutions of higher education.
We can seek “silver bullets” but would it not make more sense to focus on the “contextual” opportunities that will allow diverse resources to engage education efforts contributing directly to life in cash economies? The challenge of African poverty is so large, the rural landscape so vast, and the needs so imminent, that it becomes a moral question when applying scarce resources.
Let the Africans tell the Americans and other outsiders what will help and then let us pool our technology, capital, and human capacity to address in context those real needs. “Teach less better” remains a principle around which we can mobilize our work to help people facing the challenge of development actually develop solutions on their own. Our moderators urge us to seek answers outside traditional development pathways. This only makes sense if the local authorities including businesses, small holders, rural farmers, educationists etc… help create the projects.
Rural communities and small holders need literacy, numeracy, and the panoply of institutions through which engagement with a cash economy link to the global community. That institutional infrastructure does not exist in much of Africa and will not be produced by programs designed to help small land holders and subsistence farmers. However, programs and projects that stimulate interest in improved infrastructure will help all sectors, including rural agriculture.
The capital, technology, and economic opportunities to lift Africans from poverty will not come from the domesticated bush, but from the nascent economic engines of the urban and suburban hubs awash in humanity flocking to the paltry economic niches and the limited advantages that these emerging economies of scale provide. Projects could involve agricultural, but are more likely to engage fields that help support agricultural production and distribution. Apriori we cannot know.
We can imagine dizzying arrays of work on training for small scale metal or plastic fabrication, light manufacturing, retail and wholesale operations, traditional trading, micro-financial services, telecommunications, rental and other equipment services, garage and mechanical skills (diesel engine maintenance), construction and trades skills (plumbing, electrical), telecommunications, printing, wood and handicrafts for local markets, local transportation or other services and utilities, advertising and marketing, “cultural” products for export and tourism, eco-tourism, or more traditional forms of tourism and a hundred other fields, tasks, or skills that will allow people to find work.
NOVA has brought these partnerships into focus to answer a demand for health care worker training in Ghana. US nursing faculty developing curriculum, gathering the necessary entry level resources (library books, nursing lab supplies, etc) to start a school of nursing and then finding local nurses (in conjunction with local hospitals and ministry of health) who are qualified to teach and turn the running of the school over to local communities. The hospitals, government, institutions of higher education, nursing association and the local communities all engaged in providing the resources that allow students and career switchers to receive training that would not otherwise get and find employment while providing a critical service in the community that enables workers, including agricultural workers, to remain productive. Health care training models that work in this way have a large footprint in terms of economic productivity. It is indirect but it engages the needs of agricultural workers and small holders.
Additional areas that partnerships with Community Colleges in the US {NOVA} could achieve include Dental Hygiene, EMT/Paramedic education and Pre-elementary Education programs all areas which have a great need for providers. All areas where there are many rural teens and young adults have adequate primary and secondary school preparation for but are unable to attend large Universities in the Cities (Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi etc). This age group is willing to work and assist their family financially and social status. An additional paypacket of $40 to 80/month gives the family a chance at having running water, electricity, educating younger children, providing a house that is more than a thatched roof and palm mat walls. This will provide stability to families in ways that most people in developed nations can’t even imagine. These programs may be carried out on ground with faculty and student exchanges and satellite technology with on-line computerized courses.
This is but one sectorally specific example of how genuine partnerships organically link to the communities served can work. There are others.
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Admin
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#13 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 14:57 |
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Dear Participants,
We appreciate the excellent responses that have been received to the questions concerning capacity building and the role of African HEI’s in addressing issues of agricultural and rural development. Several of you have mentioned that university outreach is the key and cited linkages with agricultural extension and NGO’s as options, both to help address problems as well as to learn more about small farmer definition of problems. We have two further questions about university agricultural extension, namely,
What are the major limitations of agricultural extension services in African universities and what should be done to make them effective in reaching out to the rural farmers?
Given that national agricultural research and extension systems are often organizationally separate from African HEI’s, how might African HEI’s best be linked to them?
We are also pleased to inform you that Dr. David O. Hansen, who recently retired from Ohio State University, will be joining us as a third moderator for the duration of the E-Consultation. He was the Associate Dean and Director of International Programs in Agriculture and Professor of Rural Sociology and Sociology at Ohio State University prior to joining the Initiative team here in Washington, D.C.
Sincerely,
Olusola Oyewole and Anne-Claire Hervy
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ahaines
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#14 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 15:12 |
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Extension can be much broader than agriculture, although it is a critical component. I would like to see the term agriculture a broader concept that addresses food systems from production to distribution to access, etc.
In addition, natural resources (water, forests, etc.) and community development can be and perhaps should be a component of university extension. By including community development, many more academics can be potentially involved and creating service and education as part of what and how they teach.
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bkaddom
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#15 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 15:19 |
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With my experience from Ghana (1999-2003), I am not sure what type of relation that exists between Higher Education Institutions and Agriculture Extension Services. The institutions basically produce the professionals but fail to follow-up with their delivery.
My argument and framework during my masters program was to develop a curriculum in the agricultural universities that incorporates rural development, agriculture and ICTs. The graduates are specifically prepared to go back into our rural farming communities to help in agricultural development. During the training (degree program), students are offered internship to spend some time in these communities, university faculty members in this program follow-up to supervise students, and experiences and knowledge gain through this process is feedback into research, enabling the graduates to be useful in the communities after their degrees.
There is much documentation of African farmers' local knowledge in agriculture, and the potentials of the new ICTs cannot be ignored. But we seem to be following the same decades-old development paradigm that we will only have to use the ICTs to get external knwoledge into our communities.
My question is how can we use the same ICT artifacts to get farmers' local knowledge into scientific research stream - not just by documenting farmers local knowledge, not just building the capacity of farmers to make videos, but go a step further to ensure collaborative knowledge generation. Farmer-Led Documentations are excellent but where are these documents?
We need to find ways of utilizing this knoweldge. We can see the role of extension in using ICTs with farmers to get local knowledge back into scientific research.
Ben
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jackshroder
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#16 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 15:26 |
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At the University of Nebraska where I work (albeit the urban campus most of the time), our Agricultral Extension Agency is staffed with people who are actually university faculty of a kind, even though they do not actually live or work anywhere near campus most of the time (hence part of the 'Extension' idea). Instead most of them generally work out in the countryside from various small posts scattered all over our very large state. They only take information from the Agricultural College and process it out for the farmers. Because they are faculty they operate somewhat under faculty rules for advancement and all of that, but they are a very useful translation device of new ideas and methods out to the end user farmer. Basically because farmers world wide are so pragmatic and only like to do what works best, as long as they can see that, you have to have extension agents who are actual farmers themselves or who come from such a background in order to be convincing. If that means women extension agents to women farmers, so be it.
I would also like to point out that the very reason I came to Nebraska from Africa was because Nebraska extension was delivering home schooling materials out to families wherever they requested it, as long ago as even 40 years ago, which is how I found out about this place and was advised to take this job from the job I had in Malawi at the time. Nebraska was providing educational materials by mail to Africa then.
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gkperrier
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#17 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 15:53 |
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Concerning African agricultural extension services, the main question is why hold on to a model developed in and appropriate for the US and some European countries when it seems totally inappropriate for Africa. Universities should be closely engaged with the organizations that are working with producers, which in Africa tend to be in the private sector (both profit and non-profit) rather than the public sector. The universities in Africa that I have been associated with never had an effective extension program and I think it is unrealistic to expect them to. Let go of the land grant model and let’s move on to something that is appropriate for and works in Africa.
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Bernard
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#18 Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 16:13 |
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I worked for 10 years in Zimbabwe's agricultural extension service, which at that time was arguably one of the most sophisticated in Africa. It had a strong network and infrastructure at provincial, district to local levels. The weakness in the system though was the lack of linkage between HEI , and the extention department. There was no formal link, rather the department of extension worked hard to establish links with the deparment of agricultural research. Meanwhile the department of research had stronger links with HEI. The department of research and the HEI viewed and related to each other as academics, and extension was vewed as aspiring academics who did not deserve respect. As a result the research conducted was not suitable for rural agriculture yet it produced the largest proportion of agriultural production in the country. The lack of intellectual attention paid to extension has led to the stagnation of rural agriculture in Africa. Increasing funding for extension and rural agriculture research will help re-direct the attention of agric research departments and HEI to rural agiculture.
A second weakness was with the curicullum at the HEI. The curicullum focused on commercial agriculture and probably for presumptive reasons that this is the direction that agriculture production should take, as is evident in the current discussion. After completing my undegraduate degree in animal science, I found out that most of my training was irrelevant to the rural agriculture extension where I was posted. Yet more that 70% of agricultural production in Africa comes from rural areas. There is a huge mismatch between the agriculture and extension training offered by the HEI and the needs of the majority of farmers in rural Africa.
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lateef_2@yahoo.com
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#19 Posted: Sun Oct 26th, 2008 15:00 |
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Our actions must make a production shift to market led interventions. We must encourage research interventions that will not only make food to farmers table, but promote employment, raise income and create good rural development.
The Initiative will work if it is centred on solving current food and climate crises. Program components, which should be designed to be flexible and adaptable in various ecological regions should be centered on the following key results:
1) Critical food needs of target populations met through improvements in the production and productivity of crops and livestocks
2) Access to economic opportunities increased through Promotion and creation of agro dealers in rural environments, improving efficiency in the value chain in less privilege areas, food safety and trade, marketing and enterprise development support for income generation
3) Sustainable agriculture and natural resources management promoted
4) Sustainable gender, nutrition and health related interventions
The actions must be rural based with Creation of Agricultural Model Village Centres such Songhai Centre in Benin Republic using multisectoral and multidisciplinary partnerships.
Changes needed through review of agricultural based curricula to include entrepreneurial skills, creation of elite farmers like the 'Zimbabwean Farmers', promotion of internships for graduates of Agriculture. Direct approach to tap from Indigenous and best bet practices through a 'peer learning activities'.
Our laboratory must be RURAL BASED.
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rsyost
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#20 Posted: Sun Oct 26th, 2008 21:21 |
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I like the points mentioned by Mr. Perrier, emphasizing participation in agriculture. Certainly a strong theme of participation is needed as most have mentioned. This needs to be a fresh and ever developing type of participation, probably maturing and evolving as relationships grow and learning takes place among those applying and using the agricultural and natural resource improvements and those with previous experience or expert knowledge that are seeking to teach or share the knowledge. Since there is always a huge turn-over in personnel, productive relationships can be truncated for a variety of reasons. There needs to be some attention given, seems to me, to ensuring ongoing and certainly two-way communication, as several have indicated, among those seeking to enhance learning and those seeking to use the learning, skills, and principles.
To this end is seems that the nature of agricultural, biological, and community information needs to be considered in the training, transfer, and development of skills and principles, that is that it is increasingly holistic, cyclical, and dynamic. Consequently, the training and development of skills and concepts probably would be better carried out in teams of farmers, students, and faculty for at least two reasons 1) The holistic, systemic, and highly experiential nature of agricultural, biological, and production system information, and 2) Such that there is sharing and overlap to ensure that those learning and implementing the new skills and information are not left in the lurch, so to speak, when their learning partner leaves for whatever reason. This probably is a model very different from the successful Fulbright model of recognizing and identifying individual talent and excellence, but which does not provide a context or support group to sustain the learning and gains achieved by the ultimate user of the information.
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