Universities on the spot over trainees

• Experts blame them for producing graduates who are lacking in capacity

Universities offering agriculture courses are churning out graduates with hardly any capacity to help farmers cope with the challenges of climate change.

In a surprisingly candid discussion of the relevance of the agriculture curriculum in local and other universities in the developed world, scholars at an ongoing agriculture forum in Nairobi said the institutions have failed to make any credible impact on food production.

“If we are to shut down tomorrow, will anybody miss us?” posed Prof Elenimo Khonga of Botswana as he moderated a session at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre on Monday.

This discussion was held a few hours after President Kibaki, who opened the meeting, challenged the scholars to help farmers cope with climate change effects.

In their discussion, the scientists were generally in agreement that the current agricultural training system was skewed towards producing papers for publication in international journals other than solving practical problems.

The conference, organised by the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research, is discussing how to make their graduates more relevant and responsive to the needs of farmers and the food industry and come up with a practical response to climate change.

Practical activity

The first salvo was fired by Prof Nick Wanjohi, a former Vice Chancellor at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Technology, saying the problems started with the lecturers themselves, most of who had never engaged in any practical agricultural activity.

“How do you expect such a trainer to mould a practical graduate?” he posed.

Prof Wanjohi said training in agriculture should be overhauled and repackaged on similar lines with medical training where lecturers are involved in treating actual patients in real life situations.

“The future agriculture lecturer or graduate should be ready to dirty his or her hands,” Prof Khonga said.