In 2002, when IFPRI and other partners launched a collaborative process to plan a Master’s Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics for Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa, it was understood from the beginning that the program would eventually be transferred to a permanent home in Africa. Now, after about three years of planning, consultation, and implementation, the program has formally moved to the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi, Kenya, where it will continue to strengthen capacity for research and education in agricultural economics in Africa.

IFPRI began the program in collaboration with the AERC and the Eastern and Central Africa Programme for Agricultural Policy Analysis (ECAPAPA), with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, to help alleviate the shortage of African individuals trained in analyzing, formulating, and implementing effective agricultural policies. Given that more than two-thirds of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population lives in rural areas and depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for employment and income, broad-based agricultural growth is essential to reducing poverty and sustaining development.

“Generation of knowledge and building of analytical skills for enhancing agricultural productivity is central to meeting food security concerns in Africa,” says Harris Mule, chair of the program’s Steering Committee. “By promoting world-class training in agricultural economics, the Collaborative M.Sc. Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa will go a long way toward meeting this need. IFPRI has played a critical role in initiating and steering this program to fruition.”

The program involves 16 departments of agricultural economics in universities in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Representatives of the 16 universities designed and developed the program through a body called the Agricultural Economics Education Board (AEEB), with financial support from a consortium of donors. The AEEB, says its chair, Bernard Bashaasha, developed “a shared vision and sense of ownership over the program through regular, informed, intensive exchanges on issues of immediate and longer-term concern to the collaborating institutions.” IFPRI, as the lead facilitating agency, provided an enabling environment for the program and financial oversight.

The five-semester program will allow students to undertake specialized study in one of four fields: agriculture and rural development, agricultural policy and trade, agribusiness management, or environment and natural resources management. Program planners consulted extensively with various stakeholders to ensure that the design of the program would enable graduates to meet the needs of government, agribusiness, civil society, and international agencies.

Coursework will take place at participating universities and at a shared facility in the region. The 16 universities are at various stages of becoming accredited to offer the program, and the first intake of students is expected in September 2005.

“We at IFPRI are proud and honored to have nurtured the program, along with our partners at AERC, ECAPAPA, and the Rockefeller Foundation, from its inception,” says Rajul Pandya-Lorch, head of IFPRI’s 2020 Vision Initiative and overall project manager for the program until the transfer. “We are confident that this program is being transferred with a strong and exciting future and look forward to its success.”

More information about the program is available at www.agriculturaleconomics.net.