Developing competent work- force for Agriculture in Africa: Flexible Skills Development template By Dr (Mrs) Philipa O. Idogho & Dr Sunny G. Eshiotse

Introduction Africa keeps experiencing unchecked population growth, low literacy levels, high unemployment rates and accompanying frightening youth restiveness. It is, thus, imperative for our governments to find or devise effective but affordable plans to address the growing threat of extreme poverty and hunger.

Intro…contd Agriculture has unlimited and untapped potential to both generate profitable employment and put food on our tables. COL’s Flexible Skills Development template can be adopted to restore the dignity of agriculture and promote needed man- power to drive the sector.

Status of Agricultural Science as school subject Crops production, animal rearing, processing, preservation and storage, distribution, marketing of produce are some of the opportunities available in agriculture sector which can guarantee food security and create employment

Status of Agric. Science…contd The collapse of River Basin Development programmes, oil boom and other factors have grievously eroded the recognition that Agricultural Science hitherto enjoyed. The fact that credit pass in chemistry, physics, mathematics and biology is required for post-secondary study of the subject is another critical obstacle for many students.

Status of Agric….contd Today, Agric Science is perceived, largely, as a ‘dead- end’ subject, though a source of ‘cheap’ credit to make up the number required for admission to university, polytechnic and College of Education!

Flexible skills Development concept It is the outcome of the 6 th Pan- Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in Kerela, India, in 2010, to strengthen institutional capacity to adopt flexible delivery approaches in TVET skills development initiatives.

FSD concept… Commonwealth of Learning has made substantial investment in capacity building and strengthening institutional infrastructure for TVET institutions in Africa to make needed interventions in the environments where they are located.

Goals of FSD The broad goals include: To increase access to skills development To increase access to skills development To impact the informal sector To impact the informal sector To improve quality in Technical, Vocational Skills development (TVSD) To improve quality in Technical, Vocational Skills development (TVSD) To contribute to poverty alleviation To contribute to poverty alleviation

FSD template FSD template provides for: Constitution of standing committee to plan, co-ordinate implement and monitor initiative Constitution of standing committee to plan, co-ordinate implement and monitor initiative Identification and profiling of target beneficiaries and their skill/training needs Identification and profiling of target beneficiaries and their skill/training needs Developing/borrowing/reviewing of curricula to address identified skills gap Developing/borrowing/reviewing of curricula to address identified skills gap

FSD template… Typically, TVET learning is formal, full-time, uses face-to-face learning, and only a small number of candidates can be accommodated (as UTME results reflect every year). Therefore, flexible and blended teaching/learning methodology is required to ‘blend’ the benefits of technology and other processes in order to enrich and deepen learning.

FSD template… A Flexible and Blended (FaB) learning approach helps to increase carrying capacity of programmes, ‘creating and increasing access to education for those who, otherwise, would not be in school.’ This is why the baseline qualification for FSD skills training is to be a ‘mature candidate who can speak English, pidgin or, at least, a local dialect’!

FSD template… To accommodate learning needs of persons with little or no schooling experience, we need to further this ‘blend’ to: Assign students to their chosen skill areas Assign students to their chosen skill areas Assign staff advisers to guide/supervise them Assign staff advisers to guide/supervise them Assign student ‘apprentices’ to resource persons in local communities to mentor on skills of interest Assign student ‘apprentices’ to resource persons in local communities to mentor on skills of interest Devise strategies to ensure students attend mentoring sessions Devise strategies to ensure students attend mentoring sessions

FSD template… Skills training are available in: Goat rearing Goat rearing Fishery Fishery Vegetable growing Vegetable growing Pawpaw growing Pawpaw growing Snail rearing Snail rearing Palm oil production, etc. Palm oil production, etc.

How effective is FSD? COL has heart-warming reports from experiments in India and parts of Africa. ICT tools are deployed to ‘reach the unreached and facilitate learning among farmers, landless labourers and marginalised individuals, regardless of literacy levels’ ICT tools are deployed to ‘reach the unreached and facilitate learning among farmers, landless labourers and marginalised individuals, regardless of literacy levels’

How effective is FSD? COL launched Women’s Farmers’ programme built around goat and sheep husbandry; needs assessment was done, relevant training given, soft loans facilitated. A local mobile phone service was contracted to send audio messages (developed in conjunction with Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University) to members on their phones to give information on weather conditions, management of pasture land, treatment of animal diseases, animal feeds, general management of livestock and market dynamics.

How effective…? The outcome: Improved incomes Improved incomes Shorter kidding intervals Shorter kidding intervals Increased number of kids born Increased number of kids born Higher goat sales Higher goat sales Lower mortality rates Lower mortality rates

Conclusion/Recommendation This is a popular saying in Nigeria: ‘When the poor gets so hungry that he finds nothing to eat, he will be forced to eat the rich!’ To avert this, African governments need to sufficiently fund TVET so that institutions can do extensive needs analysis of their agricultural environments, and adopt workable informal and non-formal strategies to fill the skills gaps identified in the agriculture industry. It will generate employment and provide food.