The challenge of HIV/AIDS: Where does agroforestry fit in? - World ...

Chapter 16: Capacity building in agroforestry in Africa and Southeast Asia139built at farmer and extension levels. Someinstitutions have developed brochures foruse by extension staff and farmers. In bothANAFE and SEANAFE, some training materialshave been developed in local languages,thereby helping many farmers. Programmesdeveloped by colleges and universities haveresulted in farmers and extension staff beingtrained in various aspects of agroforestry aswell as the development of training materialsand guidance on methodology in adultlearning (andragogy) as short-term courses.Extension staff have been taught to teach incolleges.Farmers of the futureThe FoF programme, established byANAFE, aims to teach those school pupilswho will become farmers without a universityor college education. The aim of theFoF programme is to build capacity withpolicy makers and educators to implementagroforestry in primary and secondaryschools. Teachers are being taught how todevelop teaching materials. This initiativeis very important as it connects the agroforestryeducation continuum from primaryschool to university level.ChallengesDespite the successful capacity buildingto date, there are still many challenges relatedto agroforestry education. Changes ineducational programmes take a long timeto produce visible results, and it is importantto continue to address critical NRMand environmental issues through capacitybuilding in agroforestry.Although agroforestry is now accepted asdiscipline in many institutions of higherlearning, transferring technology to farmersand stakeholders is still challenging. Somelecturers lack the skills to develop teachingmaterial in a pedagogically acceptablemanner. Others lack the ability to mergetheory and practices – an essential elementin agroforestry. Capacity at the localand institutional levels needs to be built inorder that more sustainable and profitablelivelihood options are created. High-qualityresearch, education and extension advisoryservices are therefore key elements inbuilding up capacities of farmers and communitiesin adopting agroforestry technologies.Capacity building in agroforestry is aviable pathway to integrate rural developmentand hence should be given priority.One of the current limitations in agroforestryresearch and development is thesmall number of scientists and professionalswho are planning to undertake researchin multidisciplinary land-use programmes.The challenge facing African institutionsof higher learning is to build agroforestryprogrammes that are adequately integrative.Furthermore, many of the scientifictheories and practices generated throughstudent theses need to be transformed intoappropriate educational materials. There isa shortage of curricula and teaching materialin institutions in some regions, suchas West Africa, yet many lecturers lack theskills to write appropriate educational material.Existing materials in English shouldbe translated into Portuguese and French.All of these activities require funds for capacitybuilding, especially for student agroforestryresearch theses.The futureGood agroforestry education must involvepeople from environmental science,forestry, agriculture, rural development,social sciences, and veterinary science.It is important to ensure that all relevantstakeholders have access to agroforestrytechnologies, and that agroforestry materialdevelopment takes account of the differencesin each region. Adequate trainingmodules for extension staff/developmentalworkers should be made available, andthere should be incentives to keep the capacitydeveloped within each region. It isessential that appropriate agroforestry technologiesbe fully utilized by the relevantstakeholders.Training on later stage processes, such asfood processing and marketing of agroforestryproducts should be implemented inthe curricula. The role of agroforestry inalleviating the effects of HIV/AIDS shouldbe emphasized, and ways should be foundto reduce the human capacity lost throughthese diseases.In education, institutions not teaching agroforestryshould be encouraged to do so.There is also a need to build capacity at local/communitylevels on technical aspectsof agroforestry scaling up. For the young,the FoF programme is going to be increasinglyimportant, as children will be theones to promote agroforestry techniquesand knowledge in rural communities in thefuture.AcknowledgementWe are thankful to the Swedish Agency forInternational Development Cooperation(Sida) for ANAFE and SEANAFE activities.