NOTES AgriculTurAl & rurAl DEvElOpmENT 41896 cultivating Knowledge and Skills to grow African Agriculture iSSuE 29 DEcEmbEr by: JONAThAN AgWE 2007 rEviSiTiNg AgriculTurAl EDucATiON AND TrAiNiNg World bank president Zoellick's (AET) iN AfricA perspective on the importance of revitalizing Agriculture in Africa Africa is unlikely to register significant developmental advances until she learns to grow her agriculture. Some 70% of Africa's poor live in rural areas, and Recognizing this reality, African governments adopted a nearly all of them are involved in agriculture.The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program recently-released World Development Report (CAADP) under the auspices of the New Partnership for 2008 shows that for people living on $1 a day, African Development (NEPAD) in 2002. This Program growth in the agricultural sector is four times states that larger investments in agricultural research, more effective in overcoming poverty than growth extension, and education systems are required to in other sectors. So investing in agriculture offers achieve the targeted increase in agricultural output of 6 an attractive opportunity to strengthen Africa's percent a year over the next 20 years. In 2006, NEPAD economies as a whole, while addressing poverty. issued a Framework for African Agricultural Productivity A recent independent evaluation report of the (FAAP) as a guideline to member states for attaining this World Bank's work reveals that we have some production goal. These and other recent international challenges and although we've improved some of initiatives (e.g., Commission for Africa Report, World our work over the past couple of years, there is Bank Africa Action Plan) have brought both agriculture and technically focused education back into the work also an opportunity for us to do much better. plans and budgets of African governments and devel- Source: Robert B. Zoellick 2007. opment assistance agencies alike. This provides hope that the neglect of agriculture in Africa may now be a thing of the past. However, although these initiatives frequently recognize the general importance of AET, they offer little specificity on what should be done or how to do it. To this end, the World Bank initiated a series of studies on AET in 2005. This Note synthesizes the findings of this research and proposes a set of stra- tegic measures for strengthening the contribution of AET to agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The target audiences are African practitioners and policymakers concerned with boosting food sup- ply and agricultural output, donor representatives, and World Bank staff. Why hAS AfricAN fOrmAl AET bEEN NEglEcTED? For more than a decade, formal AET has been largely abandoned by governments and donors in Africa. This might seem surprising in view of the agricultural sector's sizeable contributions to the gross domestic product (GDP), employment, and exports in Sub- Saharan Africa. As explained in the box below, multiple factors have combined to bring AET into its present orphaned state. ThE WOrlD bANK African professionals have been Distanced from AET Knowledge Networks The initial institution building achievements of the 1970s and 80s have given way to neglect since the 1990s. Donor assis- tance to African agriculture has declined sharply and, within that total, support for AET in Africa has largely disappeared. Assistance for formal AET declined to just 0.7 percent of agricultural sector aid between 2000 and 2004. Government funding has tended to follow donor priorities.The ultimate cost of the government and donor pull back from AET has been to distance African professionals from knowledge networks, global information resources, and the cutting edge of technology transfer. This has left a severely depleted human resource pool in African agriculture Source: World Bank 2007. mAKiNg ThE buSiNESS cASE fOr KEy mESSAgES TO SuppOrT AET iN AfricAN DEvElOpmENT iNvESTmENTS iN AET Agriculture continues to be Sub-Saharan Africa's dominant This section sums up the case for increased investment in economic activity, accounting for 40 percent of GDP, 15 AET and synthesizes issues in the sub-sector. The key mes- percent of exports, and 60-to-80 percent of employment. sages include the following: Higher agricultural productivity is a pre- Recent Agricultural Reform condition for growth and development Experiences: Lessons emerging from in most African countries, and increas- recent agricultural reforms demonstrate ing yields is the key to raising incomes that a more nuanced understanding in rural areas. Farmers and commercial is needed of AET's role in promot- producers may benefit especially if ing innovation, productivity gains, and they can diversify their production into growth in agriculture. Insight is spe- higher value, and often knowledge- cifically needed to bring AET into closer demanding, specialized crops. Strong and more productive relationships with AET systems are necessary to under- other actors in the agricultural sector pin such gains in productivity. AET and wider economy. The goal is to directly raises agricultural productiv- share in the comparative advantages ity by developing producer capacities of different actors and institutions to and indirectly increases agricultural reduce transaction costs, achieve econ- productivity by generating human capital for support ser- omies of scale, exploit complementarities, and realize syner- vices. Investments in AET clearly enable research, extension gies in innovation. and commercial agriculture to generate higher payoffs. Guidance from Global Experience on AET: Global experi- As stated by NEPAD, "The quality of tertiary agricultural ence shows that it is possible to build productive and financially education is critical because it determines the expertise sustainable AET and research systems. Developing countries, such and competencies of scientists, professionals, techni- as India, Malaysia, Brazil, Chile, and the Philippines, have achieved cians, teachers and civil servants and business leaders in notable successes in establishing productive AET systems. A all aspects of agriculture and related industries." Higher review of these and other experiences points to the importance of agricultural education also contributes directly to research the following six factors: and advisory services. Extensive institutional infrastructure for AET has been put in place since the 1960s. Africa now (1) Mobilizing and sustaining political support for AET has roughly 200 public universities (compared with 20 in investments is simultaneously the most important and 1960) and about a hundred of them teach agriculture and most difficult issue to address in designing and financing natural resource management. In addition, private univer- a system of agricultural development institutions. sities are beginning to complement these capacities with (2) Public investment in capacity building has been essential for their own offerings. creating the scientific leadership necessary to implement each country's strategy for agricultural development. To enhance the quality and productivity of AET in Africa, (3) Building a system of core AET institutions is a process of the case for improving its agricultural education capacities capacity accumulation that takes sustained commitment is compelling in view of their seminal role in agricultural over multiple generations to produce returns. development elsewhere in the world. AET development (4) The administrative separation of research and higher was an integral part of strategies of countries that grew education in many African countries cripples the devel- agriculture successfully, such as Brazil, India, and Malaysia. opment of national agricultural innovation systems. Given an enabling environment, African AET should be able (5) Massive campaigns to develop human capital have to produce the same impact. worked in other countries. 2 Agricultural Sector investments are on the increase, but AET in Africa is a multi-Sectoral issue That could Often fall Through the cracks The Bank'sAfricaAction Plan is generating visible results,asWorld Bank investments inAfrica's agricultural sector doubled in 2006 and remained strong in 2007. Other donors have responded similarly. Notably,African governments have committed themselves to investing 10 percent of GDP into their agricultural sector by 2010. Human resource development features prominently in all of these initiatives, with agricultural education and training a potential beneficiary from this. Yet following so many years of neglect, priorities for interventions in the AET sub-sector are not at all clear. Agricultural education is a multi-sectoral issue that does not fall neatly into either the education or the agricultural sector. As a result, it may often "fall through the cracks" between the mainline sector programs. In the meantime, under financing of Africa's agriculture sector appears poised to change. Recent signs may signal an encouraging turnaround in donor assistance to agriculture and to agriculture training, including the Commission for Africa Report, Our Common Interest, several donor initiatives focusing on skills development for agriculture, the 2003 Maputo Declaration by NEPAD, and the Framework for African Agricultural Productivity issued by NEPAD and the African Union in 2006. If additional investment in AET materializes, the key question is how should these additional funds be used? Multi-sector teams and cross-sector collaboration are, therefore, necessary to insure balanced attention to both the human development and agricultural knowledge aspects of AET. Source: World Bank 2007. (6) Finally, incentives are necessary to retain staff in research, greater flexibility and responsiveness), criteria and incentives extension, and education. for professional performance (for improved productivity), Constraints on Building African AET Capacity: AET access to information and inter-institutional communica- supply is often out of synch with labor market demands tion networks (for enhanced competitiveness). All of these in terms of knowledge and practical competencies, espe- issues are relevant to AET institutions. cially agribusiness, business and program management, The Time to Act is Now: AET is a vital, but much neglect- and problem-solving skills. AET is not realizing its poten- ed, component of agricultural development in Africa. tial contribution to agricultural development because of Continuing neglect of AET risks limiting agricultural recov- poor linkages with research and isolation from knowledge ery and restricting the possibilities for economic growth and sources. External problems, such as fragmented organi- poverty reduction. Consequently, countries in Sub-Saharan zational responsibilities for AET, and internal problems in Africa are urged to address the shortcomings of current terms of under-funding, unattractive working conditions approaches to human capital formation in agriculture by and consequent staff depletion, contribute to AET under- training a new generation of agricultural professionals with achievement. different skill sets. This goal is not amenable to a quick fix. Constraints include the following: Long-term patient support, over twenty years or more, will be needed from government, AET institutions, and develop- (1) AET enrollment profiles are distorted and declining; ment partners to attain this objective. (2) AET institutions tend to be isolated and fragmented; (3) AET curricula tend to be obsolete and disassociated from the competitive economy; gender integration in AET is (4) Numerous African countries face crises in AET staffing; Disproportionately Affected and (5) Teaching methods and facilities are often inadequate. The ultimate decline in AET funding in Africa has left a severely depleted human resource pool in African agri- Bringing African AET into a More Productive culture.The low number of women among this human Relationship with Other Economic Actors: The agricul- resource pool is especially alarming.Meanwhile,women tural innovation systems (AIS) framework is seen capable of play multiple roles in agriculture and account for more contributing fresh perspectives on how to make AET more than half of agricultural output in SSA. But they have productive. An AIS is a blending of institutional capacities, continuously received a less-than-proportionate share coordination mechanisms, communication networks, and policy incentives, that fosters innovation-led gains in agri- of investment in agriculture. For example, women cultural productivity. It emphasizes the need to understand farmers receive only 5% percent share of extension key actors and their roles, their behaviors and practices, and services, while it has been shown that farm productiv- the institutional context within which they interact, all of ity is significantly (22%) increased when women receive which are key conceptual elements in innovation systems the same advisory services as men. analysis (World Bank 2006).1 This in turn points to issues of Source: Udry et al. 1995. institutional structures of governance and management (for 3 Recommendations and conclusion options foR policies African universities and other institutions of higher learning and inteRventions ultimately will be responsible for replenishing the stock of foR afRican aet human capital in national research and extension services, The analytical work carried out on AET in Africa identified and for providing them with the broader set of skills nec- seven priorities as key to modernize agricultural education essary to grow agriculture in the 21st century. However, in Africa. These priorities are: they are ill prepared at present to train the continent's next generation of agricultural scientists, professionals, and tech- (1) Political will must be generated in support of agricultural nicians. As stated by NEPAD in the Framework for African development by educating the public about its role in eco- Agricultural Productivity "...urgent action must be taken to nomic growth and poverty reduction, creating capacities restore the quality of graduate and postgraduate agricul- for lobbying, joining forces with other stakeholders, and tural education in Africa." sustaining these efforts over two or three decades. (2) AET institutions should be integrated into the national RefeRence agricultural innovation system (NAIS) by establishing better institutional and market linkages. Associated AET reforms International Food Policy Research Institute. 2006. Seminar on ought to be grounded in an analysis of agricultural priorities Capacity Building for Agricultural Development. October 25. Washington, D.C. and market requirements, and to recognize that changes in organization and management can provide opportunities Kroma, M. 2003. "Reshaping Extension Education Curricula for 21st century Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan and incentives for productive external linkages. Access to Africa." Paper presented at the 19th Annual Conference of international knowledge sources is becoming increasingly the Association of International Agricultural and Extension easy, but it often requires external assistance. Education, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, April 8-12. (3) It is desirable to assess and re-balance AET enrollment Tadesse, Mulugeta. 2006. "A landscape of knowledge systems profiles away from secondary level vocational training in Ethiopia--The Case of Public Institutions Involved in Rural towards diploma, degree, and post-graduate levels. Development." Paper submitted to Ethiopia Strategy Support (4) Curricula and pedagogy should be modernized by empha- Program Policy Conference, June 6-8 on "Bridging, sizing analytical skills, problem-solving, agribusiness pro- Balancing, and Scaling Up: Advancing the Rural Development cesses, and post-harvest technologies and "soft" but Agenda in Ethiopia." essential skills such as communication and teamwork. IFPRI and Ethiopia Development Research Institute. Student interest in agriculture could be sparked by recast- Tadesse, Mulugeta. 2003. "IFPRI's Ethiopian Strategy Support ing programs in more modern and appealing terms, such Program" and "Food Security Program Strategy Document," as applied sciences and technology, and by educating the Sage Journals Online, Vol. 1, November 2003. Sage Journals public on the full range of agricultural career possibilities. Online, Vol. 23, No. 2-3 Information Development. (5) It is essential to replenish human capital by strengthening World Bank. 2007. "Cultivating Knowledge and Skills to Grow and expanding national Master of Science programs, lay- African Agriculture: A Synthesis of an Institutional, Regional, ing the foundation for Ph.D. programs, and tackling the and International Review." Agricultural and Rural Development Department, Washington, D.C., World Bank. conundrum of incentives for staff retention. (6) Finances must be managed proactively by making more World Bank. 2006. "Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems." Agricultural and efficient use of existing resources, mobilizing non-public Rural Development Department, Washington, D.C., World Bank. resources, and persuading donors to finance operating costs. Udry, Christopher and John Hoddirott, Harold Alderman and Lawrence Haddad. 1995. "Gender Differentials in Farm (7) Much better gender balance must be achieved among Productivity: Implications for Household Efficiency and Agricultural AET graduates. Policy. Food Policy. 20 (2): 407-423. 1 The interrelated importance of education, research and extension in enhancing agricultural production and reducing rural poverty is well recognized in many developing countries. However, evidence suggests that the traditional education-research-extension "triangle" may be increasingly ill-equipped to respond to the new opportunities and challenges now associated with agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (Kroma 2003; Tadesse 2003). The entry of new actors, technologies and market forces, when combined with new economic and demo- graphic pressures, suggests the need for more comprehensive approaches to strengthening agricultural education, research and extension (IFPRI 2006). This note was prepared by Jonathan Agwe, Operations Analyst in the Agriculture and Rural Development Department (ARD) of the World Bank. It was prepared with review comments and input from Riikka Rajalahti (Consultant to ARD), Eija Pehu (Adviser at ARD) and Peter N. Materu (Senior Education Specialist at AFT: Human Development 3 (AFTH3) of the Africa Region of the World Bank. The Note is extracted from the document titled "CULTIVATING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TO GROW AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: A Synthesis of an Institutional, Regional, and International Review" and co-authored by Richard Johanson and William Saint (Consultants to the World Bank). tHe WoRld BanK 1818 H Street. NW Washington, DC 20433 www.worldbank.org/rural