Congress Mahlangu
The improvement of agricultural education will receive priority when the Association of Principals of Agricultural Colleges (Apac) an organisation representing all the agricultural colleges in this country meet with their counterparts in an international conference at the Kruger National Park next month.
According to Allison van Niekerk, chairperson of Apac, the conference will focus on international trends in agricultural research, modern methods of farming and available technologies, and the transformation and governance of higher education in South Africa.
“Our main objective is create a climate favourable to agricultural activities and in doing so we have to ensure that agriculture is valued as a career. We also aim to generate small-scale farmer entrepreneurs as this is the most effective way of becoming commercialised,” Van Niekerk says.
The conference will allow for input from local and international experts to address critical issues affecting agriculture in the country.
For Professor Frits Rijkenberg, a director at the Centre for Rural Development at the University of Natal, the conference comes at the most opportune time when the field is losing appeal as many students are being drawn to commerce and information technology. Rijkenberg says it is important to revisit the challenges facing the teaching of agriculture and devise ways for higher education institutions to meet the needs of the sector in future.
He said the highest matriculation subject failure in KwaZulu-Natal is not in mathematics and science, but in agricultural studies.
“Secondary schools need to refocus their energies”, said Rijkenberg. “We should inculcate appreciation for the importance of agriculture. If this were addressed, schools would begin to attract a much better calibre and motivated student,” Rijkenberg says.
Students’ lack of interest in agriculture dates back to the days when the tending of school vegetable gardens was used as a form of punishment. In other instances, agriculture is perceived as a rural-based economic activity, and therefore does not appeal to a majority of students who want to work and live in the cities.
“In many circumstances, kids do not want to associate themselves with agriculture because they believe it deprives them of [prospects] to relocate to urban areas,” Rijkenberg says.
Dr Sadi Motsuenyane, Agricultural Research Council director, says she is concerned about the high unemployment rate for agriculture graduates who find it difficult to get placements.
She hopes the conference will be able to transform curriculums to include business management skills and project management to enable graduates to become self employers.
“Agriculture is a science on its own right, therefore it should be perceived as a mechanism to address poverty,” Motsuenyane says.
Delegates from the United Kingdom and Australia are expected to attend the conference and, locally, the likes of Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu of the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Bongiwe Mbuli-Njobe, the Director General of the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs, are also expected to attend.