The Ohio State University/Michigan State University/Makerere University/Egerton University/Sokoine University of Agriculture
Country:
Regional East Africa
Award Date:
2005
Award Amount:
$799,651.00
Cost Share:
$307,167.00
Other Funds:
$21,071.00
Other Partners:
Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (FORUM)
The partners are strengthening the human capacity of East African faculties of agriculture (FOAs) to improve smallholder agricultural productivity and address food security concerns within the region through research, training, and outreach activities. A general decline in support for higher education in agriculture over the past 15 years and burgeoning undergraduate student enrollments threaten the quality of teaching and research and the capacity of FOAs in East Africa to contribute to commercialization of smallholder agriculture. Through the provision of an innovative, replicable, cost-efficient long-term degree training program for training future scientists and teachers, the partnership helps FOAs meet this human resource challenge. In addition to the long-term degree training, it provides short-term training programs for FOA faculty members to develop and update their skills in areas of critical need and to strengthen links between FOAs and agribusinesses. A Research Seed Grants program also has been established to support in-region thesis research.