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

150World Agroforestry into the FutureHULWA(14.5%)South Africa(10.2%)Australia(0.7%)Europe(17%)North America(3.9%)Socialsciences(15.00%)Researchmanagement(3%)Other(3%)Soilsand water(31%)Asia(9.1%)Sahel(13.4%)ECA(31.2%)ECA = East and Central Africa;HULWA = Humid lowlands of West AfricaAgroforestrytechnologies(24%)Treedomestication(24%)Figure 2. Geographical distribution of World AgroforestryCentre graduate trainees (1993–2003).Figure 3. Thematic areas pursued by WorldAgroforestry Centre degree fellows (1993–2003).very active in ECA and has many scientistsbased there. There are also more institutionsteaching agroforestry at postgraduatelevel in ECA than in other regions.The Centre has also trained many studentsfrom Europe, Asia and Latin America. Mostof these are sent by major donors and arefunded by their respective projects. Out ofthe 276 fellows 214 have pursued Mastersprogrammes and 62 have pursued Ph.D.programmes. It must be noted, however,that the Centre has provided financialsupport (especially through the regionalnetworks) to more than the 276 fellowsreported here.The thematic areas studied in postgraduateresearch are very varied and includesoils and water, agroforestry technologies,tree domestication, social sciences andresearch management (Figure 3). Researchunder the social sciences has focused onissues such as marketing, extension, therole of agroforestry in poverty alleviation,adoption studies and studies on indigenousagroforestry knowledge. At the 1982 workshop,it was noted that agroforestry knowledgewithin the social sciences was verypoor. However, Figure 3 shows that wehave made positive developments in thisarea, with 15 percent of the fellows carryingout research in the social sciences between1993 and 2003. Research management,although important, has only beenstudied by nine of the 276 fellows andhas focused on geographical informationsystems (GIS), computer modelling and theeffectiveness of agroforestry research withrespect to funding levels.Gender representation, although not equal,has been very encouraging (Figure 4).Around 32 percent of M.Sc. students and37 percent of Ph.D. students were female.This is high compared to the general percentageof women working in agriculturalsciences (12–15 percent).One of the major achievements of thegraduate programme is that it has builta critical mass of agroforestry experts in80706050403020100MastersPh.D.MaleFemaleFigure 4. Gender balance of WorldAgroforestry Centre degree fellows (1993–2003).national agricultural and forestry services,especially in Africa. Although we have notformally followed up on individual trainees,we believe that many of them are workingin forestry and agricultural departments ofresearch institutions or universities.