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PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Social Movements, Institutions and Governance
Volume 8 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1348167
Perspectives on the integration of agri-entrepreneurship in tertiary agricultural education in Africa: Insights from the AgriENGAGE project
Provisionally accepted- 1 Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco
- 2 University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark
- 3 Agronomic and Veterinary Institute Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco
- 4 Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
- 5 Université Nationale d’Agriculture, Laboratoire des Sciences et Technologies des Aliments et Bioressources et de Nutrition Humaine, Sakété, Benin
- 6 Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya
- 7 University of Pavia, Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
- 8 Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Gulu University, Gulu City, Uganda
- 9 Pwani University, Kilifi, Kilifi, Kenya
- 10 Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi, Uganda
- 11 Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture, Kampala, Uganda
The underperformance of agricultural education systems in Africa is evident through various indicators such as increased unemployment among recent agricultural graduates, inefficiencies in agricultural product value chains, and a decline in enrollment in agricultural schools. The AgriENGAGE project, which included eight African universities, was supported through the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education programme funded by the European Commission to address these challenges. The project aimed to contribute towards revitalizing agricultural education systems to stimulate agricultural transformation and enhance the sector's competitiveness while meeting the labour market's demands. This article draws on lessons learned at eight universities to provide a perspective on agri-entrepreneurship education integration in African universities. We provide descriptions, experiences, and insights on agri-entrepreneurship education integration in partner universities in Kenya, Benin, Morocco, and Uganda. Based on these experiences, we provide perspectives on reducing youth unemployment and improving the effectiveness of agricultural education in contributing to the development of sustainable food systems.
Keywords: Agricultural Education, enterpreneureship, sustainability, agricultural productivity and innovation, Africa, higher education
Received: 01 Dec 2023; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Chirinda, ABDULKADER, Hjortsø, Aitelkadi, Kolawole Valere, Taarji, Mhada, Lamdaghri, Romanova, Assogbadjo, Chadare, Saidi, Sassi, Mugonola, Gogo, Ssekandi, Okalany, Egeru, Mshenga and Chfadi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ngonidzashe Chirinda, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco
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