1. 1
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Employment of Agricultural Graduates:
Who are we training for ?
Sidi Sanyang
Program Manager
CORAF/WECARD
Young People, Farming and Food
19 – 22 March 2012
University of Ghana, Legon
Accra, Ghana

2. 2
Introduction
Funding for higher education in Africa kept pace with the expanding institutional base
during the 1960s and 1970s
 but this has fallen well behind the growth in student numbers since 1980s
Impact of trained agriculturalists on the performance of African agriculture continues to be
debated
 Africa’s food and poverty challenges require a redirection of thinking about
agriculture’s role in the development process
 and the need for a reliable food supply as a precondition for national
development
There is therefore a necessity and urgency for change in agricultural education
 the “new universities” need to demonstrate willingness and capability to induce
change
Recently however, the performance of the agricultural sector has started to show positive
trends in a number of African countries but issues such as:
 Is the agricultural training on offer adequate in terms of curricula and teaching
methods?
 Does it equip the trainees with the requisite mindset and skills needed to help
increase agricultural productivity by smallholder farmers?

3. 3
Methodology
Assessment of employment opportunities for agricultural graduates through the Project --
Strengthening Capacity for Agricultural Research and Development in Africa (SCARDA)
 to enhance institutional and human capacity of national agricultural research
systems , in particular the NARIs
Involved four (4) countries -- Mali, Congo, Ghana, Gambia
Three approaches were used
 Follow-up approach
o assessment of the training received by the students
o evaluation of courses delivered prior to examinations
o the same assessment is then conducted some time after graduation
especially with working graduates
 Employer’s approach
o to understand the degree of employers’ satisfaction with the work
performance of graduate employees
 Retrospective approach investigated
o the impact of the graduates’ working experiences on the reform and or
development of new training programs

4. 4
Methodology
Study focused on
 agricultural education and training institutions eg. universities, polythenics, colleges
 employers of agricultural graduates in the public sector, agribusiness, farmers’
organizations, NGOs active in agriculture
 to a limited extent, regional and international organizations
Open-ended interviews were used to gather information from training institutions
Structured questionnaire was used for the various levels of agricultural graduates and
employers
Sample size and character
 5-10 employers per country
 150 – 170 employed
 only 20 – 30 unemployed agricultural graduates
 men and women employees were interviewed
 covering the previous 10 years
Training and employment opportunities assessed included
 crops and livestock production
 fisheries
 Agricultural engineering and food processing
 agricultural inputs
 environment and forestry

5. 5
Agricultural training institutions interviewed
Mali Republic of Congo Ghana Gambia
Centre d’Apprentissage Lycée technique agricole University of Ghana, Legon, Gambia College,
Agricole (CAA) de Samanko Amilcar Cabral (LAAC) Accra University of The
Gambia
Centre d’Apprentissage Institut Sylvo Agro Kwame Nkrumah University
Agricole (CAA) de Samé Pastoral – Centre of Science and Technology University of The
d’Education (KNUST), Kumasi Gambia
Centre de Formation Pratique Professionnelle Agricole
en Elevage (CFPE) de Sotuba (ISAP-CEPA) Kwadaso Agric. College in
Ashanti Region
Centre de Formation Pratique Lycée Technique
Forestier (CFPF) de Tabacoro Agricole d’Ouesso Animal Health and
(LTAO) Production College in Pong
Institut Polytechnique Rural de Tamale
Formation et de Recherche Institut de
Appliquée (IPR/IFRA) de Développement Rural
Katibougou (IDR)
Faculté des Sciences et
Techniques (FAST),
Université de Bamako
Université Mandé Bukari

6. 6
Results: Employment of Agricultural Graduates
Sector / Country Graduate subject area Gender
Public sector employed agric. Mali Mali
graduates 55% in crops & agricultural reported 13.7% female
Mali -- 94% engineering agricultural graduate in the
Gambia --- 84% public service
20% in forestry
Ghana -- 55%
Congo – 84% Gambia
Ghana only 5% female
NGOs 50% of employed graduates in
Mali -- 4% economics & crops Overall Mali, Ghana &
Gambia -- 7% Gambia
17% in animal science
Ghana -- 14% 5% - 14% graduate women
Congo -- no information employees
Private sector/Agric. Business Ghana
Mali -- 2% 5% female unemployment
Gambia -- 7% rate
Ghana -- 12%
only 16 in Congo 11% male unemployment rate
Congo
Farmer organizations 40% female agricultural
Ghana -- 4% graduates

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Results : Key competencies required by Employers of Agricultural Graduates
agricultural engineering and farm machinery
agricultural economics with emphasis on farm management
innovation systems and value chains
communication including report writing and ICT skills
interpersonal skills
participatory technology development and dissemination
rural sociology / socio-cultural contexts
Limitations of curricular
 students spent significantly less time engaged in practical or hands-on training (except Mali & Congo)
 very few changes have been introduced into the curricula since the creation of the training institutions
 subjects taught remain almost the same with the same contents and the same number of hours
 quality of students’ supervision by teaching and support staff was not adequate
Ghana
 general growing disinterest in agricultural training
 number of applicants dropped sharply from 1000 in 2003 to 370 in 2004 at University of Ghana & similar
situation at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi
 disinterest in agricultural training can be partially explained by the declining job opportunities offered by
the major public sector employer since 2003

8. Conclusion 8
Study clearly demonstrates
 a mis-match or difference between the agricultural education that is on offer and what potential
employers are seeking
 need to establish strong linkage, partnerships, networking and learning with civil society employers
o agribusiness / private sector
o farmers’ organizations
o with greater emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship
 will help make agricultural training more responsive to the changing job market
Such linkages should enable students’ access to practical attachments and internships at enterprises
To achieve this however, radical change is required in the mindsets of policy makers and those running agricultural
training institutions in terms of
 Governance, leadership and management; norms, values and practices
 policy analysis
 learning processes / innovation
 entrepreneurships
 participatory curricular and teaching methods
 project design, financial and human resources management
 climate change

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Thank You
CORAF/WECARD
7 Avenue Bourguiba
BP 48
Dakar
Senegal
Tel (221) 33 869 96 18
Fax (221)33 869 96 31
E-mail: secoraf@coraf.org 9