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AEE Research
Each unit in the department has come up with research thrusts to guide on going research work undertaken by members of the department as a way of enabling the department to inform through research.
Economics Unit
Education Unit
Extension Unit
Economics Unit:
Research thrusts:
These are grouped into those addressing Marketing, Demand, Supply Response and Land Reform as follows:
Marketing completes the production process that began on the farm because it ensures that products reach the consumers. Thus, the agricultural production process is not complete until the product reaches the ultimate consumer. In recent times, there has been emergence of a number of small agricultural enterprises such as poultry, horticulture and others. These small enterprises’ development has been hampered by several factors, chief amongst them being in ability to penetrate the available local markets. An understanding of the barriers that prevent smallholders to participate and increase their level of participation in agricultural markets is important if they are to be developed and integrated in to the agricultural marketing system.
More often than not studies have found that smallholder farmers fail to fully participate in agricultural commodity markets. In instances where they participate, their level of participation is quite low relative to their commercial counterparts. In the developing world and Africa in particular, neoclassical economics has failed to explain this observed behaviour. Instead a new paradigm by the name of New Institutional Economics has been developed to fill this gap. In particular smallholder farmers’ minimal participation or lack of participation has been explained in terms of the transaction costs they face. In order to increase smallholder farmers’ participation in the markets we therefore need to identify these transaction costs factors and try to eliminate or minimize them.
Agricultural producers must produce products that are highly demanded by consumers if they are to obtain high prices. Demand patterns for food products change due to several factors such as the demographic characteristics, per capita income, and technological developments. It is therefore important for food producers and suppliers to take track of these changes so that they supply the right products to the ultimate consumer. Knowledge of the demand patterns and elasticities will also provide useful information to policy makers.
A number of government policies and programmes have been formulated and implemented in order to stimulate the agricultural sector in general. Some of these policies or programmes have been sector specific, with the main aim of diversifying the agricultural production base. However, success of these policies and programmes has been very limited indeed with a few exceptions. Most of these policies or programmes have been implemented with the major objective of increasing local production in order to substitute imports. It becomes very important therefore to identify factors that influence production and supply response in various sub sectors of the agricultural sector in order to come up with appropriate policy advice for each sub sector.
Studies have identified determinants of livestock productivity under different land tenure systems in Botswana. Studies are required to apply the New Institutional Economics (NIE) to analyse the effect of, for example transaction costs on livestock productivity. Institutional arrangements such as equity- shares programme are advocated as a land reform. A study to identify the constraints of such institutional arrangement on livestock productivity is necessary to provide some insight to policy makers.
On going research:
Livestock Marketing in Kweneng West – A Transaction Cost Approach
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Education Unit:
Research thrusts:
Viable educational programmes are characterized by their ability to change with the changing world . Change will take place in the schools and whether the change is rational or not, will depend upon the research information available to inform and educate stakeholders in agricultural and vocational education. Consequently, conducted research in an area such as : (a) The role of information and communication in technology in agricultural education: (b) Social issues and problems in formal and non-formal agricultural and vocational education; and (c) The perceptions of stake holders regarding relevant concerns in agricultural education should be the basis for recommending changes in the curricula of formal and non-formal agricultural and vocational education programmes.
Student learning and performance ride on the relevance, reliability and validity of testing and assessment procedures and practices in agricultural education programmes. Research findings make learning assessment an ongoing part of a training and fundamental part of students’ preparation for the world of work in agriculture or agricultural related professions. By focusing research on testing and assessment in agricultural education programmes at different levels, agricultural educators provide the measures by which to define success and recommend changes in the assessment and testing procedures and practices in the programmes.
The quality of any instructional endeavours in agricultural and vocational education, whether formal or non-formal, is directly related to the competence of the individual teacher who is planning, directing and evaluating the endeavour. Today there are many issues and problems in agricultural education in Botswana including but not limited to: (1) Factors affecting agriculture teacher “burn out” in schools; (2) Impact of HIV and AIDS pandemic on agriculture teaching profession; (3) Factors affecting the teaching of agriculture in schools and teacher training institutions and (4) the role of agriculture teacher education institutions in restructuring the curricula to meet needs and challenges in the profession, Research in these and many other areas in agricultural education will legitimize changes that are recommended for improvement in the agriculture education programmes.
Agricultural education programmes in rural schools function in environments quite different from urban settings in Botswana. This creates the need for research in rural agricultural education in a number of key areas, including but not limited to (a) Examining the durability of the career choices of school rural children and their out-mobility from rural communities; (b) A qualitative study to assess the perceptions of administrators, teachers, community, leaders and students about agricultural education being offered in rural communities and the importance of the schools to the well being of the communities; (c) Factors affecting the decisions of the rural secondary pupils to enroll in agricultural education programmes; (d) The role of the rural schools in providing a path of upward mobility for rural poor youth and (d) Determining the factors influencing community support for schools.
Future secondary agriculture teachers should not afford to devote too much time to having students to merely memorise facts and figures related to agriculture. Teachers must learn to help students become proficient at higher order of thinking levels. Research in cognition will examine : (a) the effects of learning styles on levels of cognition; (b) relationships between the levels of cognitive performance and critical thinking ability in agriculture; (c) cognitive levels of teaching and testing in tertiary agricultural education institutions in Botswana and (d) cognitive levels of teaching and learning in adult agricultural education programmes.
On going research:
Factors Affecting Teaching of Agriculture in Secondary Schools of Botswana. A national study funded by the Research and Publication Committee of Botswana College of Agriculture. (2006 -2007)
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Extension Unit:
Research thrusts:
In 1996, several policies were formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture to enhance the performance of extension workers in the process of transferring farming technologies to farmers. These policies were in the areas of principles, philosophies, objectives, Extension teaching methods, teaching materials, and the roles expected to be played by technical assistants, technical officers and subject matter specialists to foster agricultural development and technology transfer. Some of these policies may now be irrelevant to the extension system and may need to be reviewed. Results obtained from this research should reveal some new policies that would enhance agricultural development and technology transfer and those that would have to be modified.
Agricultural Extension Workers have often been blamed for their inability to transfer technologies developed at the Research Institutes to the end users without focusing on some factors that can affect technology transfer. Research has shown that if these factors are not identified and dealt with appropriately, extension workers are most likely to fail in performing Their roles effectively and efficiently. This research work will focus on identifying these factors with the aim of pointing out to the Ministry of Agriculture the dangers that these can pose to the role of technology transfer expected of an Extension worker.
Many scholars have alluded to the fact that women and some social groups have been marginalized in the process of Agricultural development in Botswana. For example, the inability of women to own land in Botswana has often been cited as one of the major problems confronting agricultural development in Botswana. Women constitute the majority of those who live in rural areas where agriculture could be better practiced. This research work will identify other areas that could restrain women and some social groups from participating effectively in Agricultural development.
On going research:
Draft proposal on preparation.
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