CGIAR: The Global Open Food and Agriculture University

CGIAR: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

Frequently Raised Concerns

Global Needs Assessment Table

Go to Interpretation

	*Current Number of Postgraduates in Developing Countries (persons per year)*	*Postgraduates needed in developing countries today to match the number in developed countries in the 1960/70s (persons per year)*
Africa
Nigeria	459	6,399
Uganda	89	1,287
Burkina Faso	36	669
Congo, Dem. Rep	138	3,381
Ethiopia	204	4,598
Lesotho	6	167
Malawi	36	1,178
Morocco	101	1,080
Namibia	6	86
Tanzania	114	2,922
Togo	15	324
Zambia	30	393
Asia
India	2,083	79,998
Cambodia	13	302
Vietnam	750	7,191
China	14,740	145,993
Philippines	355	3,472
Latin America
Brazil	3,080	3,396
Mexico	2,500	3,019
Peru	1,500	1,283
Total	26,256	267,139

Interpretation

This exercise is not a demand assessment but crude estimations of the needs. The estimation of the "need" for postgraduates is based on the number of farms in these countries. The estimation reference is the situation of postgraduate capacity a generation ago in Europe and North America.

The indicative Global Needs Assessment above focuses on the current need for postgraduates in agriculture in developing countries. The hypothesis is that the number of postgraduates in agriculture in developing countries today is too low and not sufficient for sustainable development of the agricultural sector. Postgraduates include master-level and Ph.D. students in all subjects related to Agriculture. After obtaining the number of farms and the number of agricultural postgraduates in the selected countries, the number of farms and the number of hectares per one graduate were estimated.

At the same time, data on the levels of agricultural postgraduates in developed countries in the 1960s-1970s were calculated. The average numbers for the developed countries (based on the figures from the USA in 1966 and Switzerland and Germany in 1970) is 1 postgraduate diploma per 1,325 farms. The number of postgraduates needed today in developing countries to match the numbers of postgraduates in developing countries 30-40 years ago can be derived from these figures.

For example, in India, an estimated 80, 000 postgraduates would be needed today to match the number in developed countries in 1960/1970. A different result was obtained for Nigeria, where the estimated need for agricultural postgraduates is about 14-times higher. In general, the figures indicate a large need for building postgraduate capacity in agriculture.

In conclusion, there is clear indication for the support of the hypothesis that the number of postgraduates in agriculture in developing countries today is too low to match the need and to ensure sustainable development of the agricultural sector in the economy.

The university would use a regional approach to assess the need for postgraduate distance education in agriculture and natural resources in order to ensure a strong foundation for this initiative and to better understand gaps in distant learning agriculture capacity at the university level. The assessment would determine what M.Sc. programs the university should offer; the technology needs of our partners; and the existing CGIAR learning resources that could contribute to the university. Preliminary needs assessments have been undertaken in South Asia, East and Southern Africa, and Southeast Asia.