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

Chapter 18: Building capacity for research in agroforestry151Postgraduate programmes ininstitutions of higher learningAt the time of the 1982 agroforestry conference,there were hardly any postgraduatecourses in agroforestry being offered byhigher learning institutions, although a fewprovided courses on land use. By 2003,Africa alone had 31 institutions offeringagroforestry as a postgraduate course(Table 1). Many others are now teachingTable 1.RegionNumber ofuniversitiesAfrica 31Australasia 4Central and SouthAmericaPostgraduate education inagroforestry.Eastern Europe andChinaNorth America 20Western Europe 41Southeast Asia 153 1? 1South Asia ? 11Information not completeSource: Temu (2003, unpublished).important component of the Centre’s capacitybuilding strategy. The networks haveexperimental sites in different countriesin Africa, which provide excellent experientiallearning for scientists from nationalresearch institutions and from the WorldAgroforestry Centre itself. Most of the researchby the Centre’s graduate fellows (asdescribed above) is carried out at researchsites managed by the networks.There are now three main agroforestry educationnetworks: the African Network forAgroforestry Education (ANAFE), the SoutheastAsian Network for Agroforestry Education(SEANAFE) and the Latin AmericanAgroforestry Network (LANAFE). These aredescribed by Rudebjer et al. in Chapter 17of this volume. In addition to these regionalnetworks, many countries have also formednational agroforestry networks.Issues and challengesin building capacity foragroforestry researchAgroforestry has come a long way sinceit was originally recognized as a simpleextension of forestry. It was categorized inthis way because the idea of planting treesappeared to fit best with the forestry profession,and foresters saw agroforestry asa way of helping farmers to produce theirown tree products and reduce their dependencyon natural forests. By and large,the early proponents of agroforestry wereforesters (Temu, unpublished).Agroforestry is now seen as a science thatis of increasing interest to a wide varietyof disciplines. Perspectives are changingand many new agroforestry programmesare being developed within agriculture,forestry, environmental education andother land-use programmes. Agroforestry iscurrently considered as an important entrypoint for holistic natural resources managementstudies within educational institutions.Temu and Garrity (2003) observe thatagroforestry also provides an entry pointfor biodiversity education. Despite viewingagroforestry as a broad-based disciplinetouching on various sectors, most nationalagricultural institutes and university facultiesstill remain very sector-based withseparate institutions for agriculture, forestry,wildlife, livestock, etc. Integrating theagroforestry agenda therefore represents asignificant challenge, especially in caseswhere there is no institutional collabora-agroforestry as a subject within other disciplines,such as forestry, agriculture and environmentalsciences. In addition, severalinstitutions have modified their curricula toinclude agroforestry (Table 2). The reviewand incorporation of agroforesty within thecurricula of national universities ensuresthe sustainability of these programmes andfacilitates interdisciplinary interactions.Agroforestry research and educationnetworksAgroforestry research networks were startedin Africa in the late 1980s and form anTable 2. Number of curricula reviewed to incorporate agroforestry in Africa (1993–2002).Discipline/level Certificate Diploma First degree Postgraduate TotalAgriculture 2 4 15 2 23Forestry 7 8 6 2 23Other (e.g. ruraldevelopment,horticulture)New agroforestryprogrammes1 2 3 0 60 4 5 6 15Total 10 18 29 10 67Source: Temu (2003, unpublished).