BCA STAFF PROMOTIONS
Professor S. J. Nsoso of the Department of Animal Science and Production
Professor S. P. Sharma of the Department of Animal Science and Production
Professor E. B. Khonga Department of Crop Science and Production
Professor V. E. Emongor of the Department of Crop Science and Production
Dr P. D. Lebatha takes over at CICE
Professor S.J. Nsoso
Dr S.J. Nsoso was promoted to the position of Associate Professor in February. He joined the Department of Animal Science at the College as Assistant Tutor in 1991. He was recategorised to the post of Lecturer in 1996 when he returned from studies with a PhD in Animal Science from Lincoln University in New Zealand in 1996. He was again promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2001. Professor Nsoso has served in various committees in the College such as the Department of Animal Science Graduate Committee, Governing Council, Dairy Construction Monitoring Team, Computerization Committee, Dairy Sub Committee, Ruminant Sub-Committee, Admissions Committee and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Agriculture Board among others.
On professional level Professor Nsoso was External examiner of Agriculture for Diploma in Secondary Education and of Certificate of Wildlife Conservation and Management for Botswana Wildlife Training Institute. He is also a member of the National Advisory Committee for the Management of Animal Genetic Resources FAO/UNDP/SADC Project and has served as a consultant and facilitator on various animal agriculture issues and a BCA representative in the National Beef Herd Recording and Performance Testing Monitoring Committee among others.
At community level he has give written and oral advice to individuals and groups of farmers on animal breeding and general animal production such as starting guinea fowl projects, sheep and goats production and indigenous Tswana chickens. He supervised the use of Animal Science and Production incubator, where farmers bring predominantly guinea fowl eggs and occasional eggs of Tswana chickens, ducks and geese for hatching purposes.
Professor Nsoso has published extensively in local, regional and international journals of Animal Agriculture and has edited various scientific papers for local and regional journals.
His research interests are; Phenotypic and genetic characterization of indigenous breeds to come up with breed standards, which can aid in selection, selecting indigenous breeds for parasite resistance and increased productivity to improve food security at household and national levels, domesticating and preliminary production of Guinea fowls (Numida meleagris) as an alternative farm species. This would increase poultry species available to farmers and evaluating the use of Imbrasia Belina (Mopane worms) as feed resources for livestock.
Professor S.P. Sharma
Dr S.P. Sharma has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor with effect from February. He joined the Department of Animal Science and Production at the Botswana College of Agriculture in January 2004. Before joining the College, he was Senior Veterinary Officer at Botswana National Veterinary Laboratory.
Prior to coming to Botswana he served at five different universities in India and the United States, teaching and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students. In India, he worked at Haryana Agricultural University, Indian Veterinary Research Institute and G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (G.B.P.U.A&T) holding various teaching and research positions.
He was a Post-Doctorate Fellow at Ohio and Montana State Universities in USA, Professor and Head of Department of Veterinary Medicine, Coordinator of Veterinary Extension Programme, Member of University Academic Council, Admission and Teachers’ Recruitment & Assessment Committees at G.B.P.U.A&T, Pantnagar, India. He was External Examiner for B.VSc, Master and Doctorate degree students in several agricultural universities in India and Internal examiner for Doctorate degree student in University of Botswana.
He has supervised a number of Master and Doctorate degree students. Professor Sharma’s main areas of research are studies on the surveillance, pathogenesis, chemotherapy and chemoprophylaxis of zoonotic parasitic diseases like toxoplasmosis, sarcocystosis, cryptosporidiosis and arthropod-borne diseases including theileriosis, anaplasmosis, trypanosomosis, filariasis and heartwater. Currently he is working on a public health problem on Cryptosporidiosis in small ruminants to investigate the possible sources of this infection in humans especially in children enrolled under HIV/AID’s Prevention of Mother to Child Treatment programme in Botswana.
e has published 75 scientific articles in refereed journals, 26 papers in refereed conference proceedings, 9 paper presentations in seminars and scientific congresses and 12 newsletters and popular articles, including the first ever birth of cattle twins at BCA Farm for dissemination of information to livestock owners and field veterinary officers. Professor Sharma’s two publications including the one on the occurrence of tick-borne diseases in cattle, goats and sheep in Botswana were adjudged as “Best Research Articles” published in Indian Veterinary Journal and Indian Journal of Veterinary Medicine during 1986 and 2005. He is the recipient of an Alarsin Award and a Gold Medal for his publications. As a pathologist and a clinician, he is providing diagnosis, curative and preventive animal health advisory services to pet and livestock owners.
Professor Elenimo B. Khonga
Professor Elenimo B. Khonga has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor in Plant Pathology in the Department of Crop Science and Production (CSP). He has been with the College since July 1996 when he joined the Department as a Senior Lecturer. He has served the College, the University of Botswana and the Community in various capacities such as being Head of the Department of Crop Science and Production and in membership of various BCA Committees. Currently Prof. Khonga is Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture.
Before joining the College, he served the University of Malawi and the Malawi Nation as Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, and member of committees and boards of the University of Malawi, Government and parastatal organisations. He is currently External Examiner at the University of Lesotho and has served as External Examiner at the Sokoine University of Agriculture and University of Zambia. He has supervised a number of MSc and PhD students in Malawi and Botswana.
His main areas of research are biological control of fungal diseases, soil-borne pathogens, mycotoxigenic fungi and mushroom cultivation. He has been Team Leader of a number of externally and locally funded research projects. His research in Oyster mushroom production has resulted in a booming small-holder mushroom industry in Malawi and has raised a lot of interest in Botswana. He has published journal and conference articles in his area of specialization and in other areas of crop production.
Prof Khonga is married with three daughters and his favourite sports are jogging, soccer (nicknamed international defender) and darts (nicknamed Sejabana). His motto is “leave others better than you found them”.
Professor V. E. Emongor
Professor V. E. Emongor has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor. He joined the Department of Crop Science and Production at the Botswana College of Agriculture as Senior Lecturer in Horticulture in August 2001. Before joining the College he was Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
He worked for the University of Nairobi for 13 years, lecturing and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate Msc and PhD (agronomy, horticulture and food science and technology) students. He also lectured on part-time basis at Egerton University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,both in Kenya. He has also been external examiner in Egerton University and Sokoine University of Agriculture Tanzania.
Professor Emongor’s main areas of research are the use of sewage effluent for irrigation on horticultural crops and its effects on elemental composition of the produce and soil chemical properties and the use of plant growth regulators to modify the growth and development of horticultural crops, the development of vase, pulsing, and bud opening solutions in cut flowers in order to enhance the postharvest shelf-life, germplasm evaluation and bulking of horticultural crops, chemical thinning of fruit trees and postharvest physiology and technology of horticultural crops.
Dr Lebatha as the new Director for CICE
Dr. Pearl Dijeng Lebatha née Motsepe first joined BCA (then BAC) in 1980 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Field Services. She was a science lecturer at BAC and later, Head of Science. In 1986, she nurtured her entrepreneurship spirit by joining the world of business (consumer agriculture). She rejoined BCA in 1998 as a Botany Lecturer in the Department of Basic Sciences. She has held responsibility positions such as Programme Tutor, Certificate and Diploma in Agriculture Programmes. She has acted variously as Head of Department, Basic Sciences. Dr. Lebatha is The Curator of the BCA Herbarium.
Apart from her formal education (BSc, Zoology; MSc. Agricultural Botany; MEd Teacher Education; PhD Plant Systematics), she has undergone, amongst others, Entrepreneurs Training (1990, New York, USA), Smokehouse Management (American Association of Meat Processors), Financial Management and Small Business Enterprise Management. She advocates incorporation of entrepreneurship skills training in agriculture curriculum.
She was on the pioneer Board of Trustees of Thusano Lefatsheng (1983- 1984), and involved in pioneering the BCA AIDS Awareness Steering Committee in 1999. She was awarded Gama Sigma Delta— Honour Society of Agriculture by South Dakota State University (USA) in 1982. In 1996 she was awarded ‘Outstanding Woman Award’ by Career Dynamics International (Tortola, British Virgin Islands).
Dr. Lebatha’s research areas of interest focus on the promotion of botanical systematics for the conservation and sustainable use of Botswana’s biodiversity. She collaborates with researchers from local institutions such as UB, DAR, VPR & D, Botswana National Herbarium, Selinda Herbarium and with researchers from South Africa, Germany, Finland and Norway. The collaboration is on taxonomic, ethnobotanical and biodiversity conservation research; also, on plant collections and national biodiversity issues. She sits on public or NGO committees working on national and SADC framework for indigenous knowledge, access benefit sharing, intellectual property rights, and natural resources documentation and conservation. She is currently the Chairperson of the multidisciplinary research by the Biological Sciences Research Team of the Basic Sciences Department. She also coordinates student research projects in the department.
Dr. Lebatha is married and has three children.
Back to main page