Jonathan Konuche
3 October 2008
Nairobi — The current food crisis in Kenya is likely to continue if no action is taken to increase the enrolment of agriculture students in public universities, dons have warned.
Vice-chancellors of local public universities attending a Kenya National Forum session in Nairobi on Friday, urged the tertiary education institutions to do all they can to attract agriculture students.
The meeting was chaired by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology vice-chancellor Mabel Imbuga, and looked at changes at various industries with a view to reviewing the universities' curricula to meet market demands.
The dons said the low enrolment threatens food production as the sector lacks field personnel at the research and technology fields.
Prof Imbuga said the forum had consulted interested parties in the agriculture industry to get views on the proposed changes aimed at attracting agriculture students.
"We are currently in the process of incorporating the views in our curricula, especially in areas of management, entrepreneurship and policy," she noted.
The dons also urged the Government, through the ministry of Agriculture, to involve the universities in the current sectoral reforms to enable them to bring their curricula in line with the expected changes in the industry.
Involved in reforms
Kenyatta University vice-chancellor Olive Mugenda said it is research at universities that feeds policy, thus the need for all the interested parties to be involved in the reforms.
The issue of value addition, she pointed out, is being emphasised at the universities so that they may produce graduates who can do the "much-needed task for agricultural produce for export".
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