University Engagement with Farming Communities in Africa: Community Action Research Platforms

This book explains and explores how collaborations can be built and strengthened between African universities and farming communities to address real-world contemporary challenges.

The book focuses on Community Action Research Platforms, an approach that has successfully enabled African universities to break free of the ivory tower and prove their relevance to society through deep collaborative engagements in targeted agricultural value chains. Developed in a pan-African network of universities (RUFORUM) focused on capacity building in agriculture, the approach has been tested in diverse settings over the last 15 years. The book draws on the experiences and lessons from 21 different projects initiated by RUFORUM member universities in Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It highlights a critical yet underutilised role for African universities as collaborators and catalysts for multisector solutions. These are solutions that increase productivity and address climate change. They develop livelihoods and resilience in rural communities, as well as promote farmers’ access to markets, innovation and trade while safeguarding biodiversity and enhancing food and nutrition security. The book makes a case for repositioning African universities as fulcrums of development in society. It shares the rich experiences, learnings and scientific findings of diverse researchers, practitioners and students who have been working towards achieving this reality on the ground.

This multidisciplinary book holds appeal for university leaders, higher education, agrifood and development specialists, researchers and practitioners, policymakers and development agencies engaged in African agriculture and rural development, higher education and sustainable growth.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Anthony Egeru is the Training and Community Development Manager at the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) Secretariat and is an Associate Professor at Makerere University, Uganda. His research focuses on stochastic environmental change processes and social systems and he has facilitated community action research across twenty three African countries.

Megan Lindow is a writer based in Cape Town, South Africa whose work focuses on documenting complex processes of development and change in spaces of education, research, agriculture and food systems, climate change, gender equality and sustainable development across Africa and beyond. She holds an MA in journalism from Stanford University, USA and an MPhil in Sustainable Development from Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Kay Miur Leresche is a former Professor of Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics at the University of Zimbabwe, Africa. After retiring she Chaired the RUFORUM Technical Committee from 2004 to 2017 and worked with many international development and research agencies. She is committed to supporting universities to catalyse the transformation of sustainable and inclusive agriculture in Africa.