A Global Perspective on Agricultural Skills Development

David AckerCollege of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Iowa State University, USA

October 4, 2012

Presentation Order

A: 6 global mega trendsB: Link: Learning and food securityC: 9 current challenges of rural AVET/SD D: Opportunities for AVET/SD E: Supply side: Example of good practiceF: 10 questions we need to address

My Background

• Taught at AVET institutions in Greece and Tanzania for 8 years

• Professor of agricultural education 24 years• Ph.D. in Vocational Education

– education that prepares trainees for jobs

AVET / SD ??

Agricultural

Vocational

Education &

Training

Skills

Development

6 Global Mega Trends

Impacting Agriculture Sustainability

A

Factor # 1 PopulationGrowth

Today:7,041,455,295

2025:

8,000,000,000

Pressure

Today: 1 billion hungry

2025: Demand will double

Factor # 2Demand for Food

Rising incomes = Rising demand for food

Factor # 3Energy Demand

Food and Fuel• Will energy demand compete with our

ability to produce enough food?

Factor # 4Water: Quality and Quantity

2020: 20 countries will be water scarce

Factor # 5Climate Change

Climate Change

• 1 billion people at risk of increased water stress

• Never been a famine in a democracy• Politically destabilizing food price spikes could

come at any time

Factor # 6Political Stability

Number of Failing States

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Source: EPI; Fund for Peace /Foreign Policy

Num

ber o

f Cou

ntrie

s

Ear

th P

olic

y In

stitu

te -

ww

w.e

arth

-pol

icy.

org

Link: Learning and Food Security

B

Education for Rural People

The role of Education,Training and Capacity Building in Poverty Reduction and FoodSecurity

Co-Authored withDr. Lavinia Gasperini, FAO

AVET/SD Contributes to MDGs

Especially:• MDG 1: Eradicating extreme poverty & hunger

• MDG 2: Education for all

• MDG 3: Gender equity, empowering women

• MDG 7: Ensuring environmental sustainability

Most of us believe we need to invest in education: Prerequisite to reducing poverty, increasing food

security, growing rural jobs

What research supports this belief?

“Rural primary education was by far the best predictor of rural food security.”

de Muro & Burchi, 2007

Agricultural Efficiency

• 4 years of education contributing, on average, an 8.7 % productivity gain over those with no formal education

Carnoy, 1992

9 Current Challenges of AVET/SD in Rural Areas

C

Urban Bias

Challenge # 1

70% of the world’s poor live in rural areasPublic expenditures favor urban populations

Access to AVET/SD

Challenge # 2

Obstacles:• Fees• Transport/Distance to school or training site• Government and donor funding

Quality of AVET/SD

• Quality depends on:– relevance– facilities – trainers – materials – evaluation– leadership– curriculum– community links

Challenge # 3

More than Farming

• Rural Space:– Farming– Ag-related businesses– Transport– Telecom– Trading– Construction– Water

Challenge # 4

Constrained information flow reduces efficiency of the training–to–employment continuum

Skills Development Marketplace Employment

Needed:- Job specific technical skills- Generic life skills- Socialization- Empowerment/Confidence- Entrepreneurship- Basic Citizenship- Numeracy

Key Ingredients:- Employer needs- Job info available- Job placement- Employer/applicant

contact

Enabling Environment:- Government

policies that favor economic development

- Access to capital

Challenge # 5 Weak Market Signals

Gender Responsive Learning Environments

• Girl/women friendly schools, training centers• Safe accommodations for girls/women • Flexible timetables • Take-home food for girls

Challenge # 6

Accommodating Non-traditional Learners

• refugees and displaced persons• people in inaccessible, remote areas• nomadic and pastoral communities• out-of-school youth• disabled persons• ethnic minorities• retired child soldiers• working children

Challenge # 7

Recruitment and Retention of AVET/SD Staff in Rural Areas

Challenge # 8

Effective Pro-Rural Policies

• Motivating major changes in policy and resource allocation to favor rural citizens

Challenge # 9

Opportunities for AVET/SDD

Emerging Opportunities for AVET

ICT: Digital/mobile devices

ICT – Online Video Resources

(100+ Online Units)“Identify and mark livestock”

(India): “Paddy seedling transplantation”

“How to milk a cow by hand”

Double food production

To achieve sustainable food security we must:• double the quantity of food produced• do so in a doubly green manner• Green technologies• Opening new lands to production• Sustainable intensification on existing

land

Doubly Green Revolution

• Conservation agriculture• Agroforestry – Trees for

Food Security• Integrated pest

management• Urban farming• Reduce harmful chemicals• Alternative fuels for farm

equipment

How can we help rural people respond to these opportunities?

• Rural people are involved in agriculture + more• Skills development programs must respond to

agricultural opportunities, as well as other employment options in the rural space.

Demand-based skills development for farm and non-farm enterprises

• Need to make farming more productive, profitable, sustainable, resilient– Technical job skills– Life Skills– Ability to analyze– Ability to contextualize

Heinemann (2011)

Enterprise training, particularly for women

• “Integrating agricultural training with enterprise training can help women smallholders to manage and market their farm production more effectively. “ (Collet and Gail, 2009)

Supply SideCase Example of Good Practice:

Primary Schools Engaged in AVET/SD

E

Primary Schools - Shortcomings• Attitudes

– Manual labor on school farms used as punishment– Agriculture is the occupation of last resort

Primary School: Short Comings

• Curriculum • Nationally standardized curricula focuses on those

students who are expected to continue their education at the secondary school level

• Lack of agriculture in curriculum• Lack of practical agriculture skills

Primary Schools - Shortcomings

• “Pressure to achieve Universal Primary Education goals regardless of its practical meaning for rural communities.” Source: FAO Workshop on Education for Rural People, Addis Ababa

Primary School - Shortcomings

• “Education alienates young people from agriculture: school leavers desire white collar jobs; can end up back home with nothing.”

Source: FAO Workshop on Education for Rural People, Addis Ababa

Future Farmers and Leaders

• Primary school students are future farmers and future rural community leaders

• This is a key audience to reach early

UGANDAVEDCO

Makerere University Iowa State University

• Agriculture is part of national primary school curriculum in Uganda

• Enhancement: School gardening program teaches:– Agriculture skills– Nutrition skills– Small business skills

Good Practice:

Uganda School Gardens• Students eat the garden produce• University students & professors as role models• Lends new prestige to agriculture careers

Agriculture Skills Development

• Agriculture in the classroom and field• Learning in science, economics, management,

technology, responsibility

Questions we need to addressF

Question # 1• Can we design AVET/SD systems based on public private partnerships

to ensure they are demand driven?

• Can taxes on (or direct investment in) the private sector provide a revenue stream to support AVET/SD?

• Can we increase the relevance of AVET/SD by engaging the private sector by:- Appointing them to advisory boards- Asking them to provide scholarships to trainees- Requesting that they share their used equipment- Permitting visits by trainees- Helping with job placement

Question # 2

Can AVET/SD be incorporated into primary school curricula through:- school gardening projects- agriculture clubs- young farmer contests- income generation projects- school lunch

Question # 3

• Can we redesign AVET/SD at secondary and immediate post-secondary levels in rural settings so that graduates are prepared to start and run agriculturally-related small businesses that generate employment for themselves and others?

Question # 4• Can we design university level programs that

prepare a new breed of AVET/SD leaders that can lead programs to develop globally ready skilled workers?

Question # 5

• Can we design AVET/SD systems that work more efficiently at the level of national farmer associations to benefit society with higher social rates of return (to complement programs that train individuals, leading to individual returns)?

Question # 6

• Can we design AVET/SD training centers that are responsive to the needs of girls and women?– secure boarding facilities,

separate latrines, and water to facilitate proper sanitation

Question # 7

Can we design AVET/SD programs aimed at making farmers more resilient in a rapidly changing world:

- globally interdependent marketplace- able to adjust to shocks

- extreme weather/climate change- price fluctuations

Question # 8

• Can we design AVET/SD programs that train the whole person through a holistic, people centered approach– technical, life/social, business enterprise, literacy,

numeracy

Question # 9

Can we design customized AVET/SD programs that deal with learner segmentation to accommodate the agricultural sector at different stages of its transformation?

• skill levels• available technology• scale of agricultural operation• resource constraints• local community expectations

Question # 10

• How can we encourage governments and international organizations to increase their support of AVET/SD and keep this high on the agenda?

MDGs

AVET/SD

FoodSecurity

PovertyReduction

GenderEquity Environment

What Should Success Look Like?

• Expanded access and improved quality for youth and adults to AVET/SD

• Rural people:– engaged in knowledge-based economies – coping with globalization and market forces, climate change,

food crises and other shocks • Higher employment• Greater political stability• Improved national competitiveness• Sustainable rural livelihoods