RUFORUM: Building agricultural universities' capacity throughout Africa
Universities play an important and largely unfulfilled role in the well-being of small-scale farmers and the economic development of countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) supports universities to address this important role. Established in 2004, RUFORUM is a consortium of 46 African universities operating within 22 countries spanning the African continent.
Project Overview
So, what’s the problem
Universities play an important and largely unfulfilled role in the well-being of small-scale farmers and the economic development of countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
What is this project doing?
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) supports universities to address this important role.
Established by 10 Vice Chancellors in 2004, RUFORUM is a consortium of 46 African universities operating within 22 countries spanning the African continent. It is coordinated by a Secretariat hosted by Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
Why the collaboration?
Supporting the ability of Africa’s tertiary agricultural education to produce high calibre graduates is essential to solve major agricultural and environmental problems and improve farmer livelihoods. CABI and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) are working collaboratively to achieve this by:
- improving access to agricultural scientific information
- underpinning the training of quality graduate students
- supporting production of quality research responsive to the demands of smallholder farmers
Summary of the collaboration
CABI and RUFORUM are working jointly to support the fast-tracking of development in Africa. Respectively, they bring expertise to improve access to agricultural science information and the platform for training high performing agricultural graduates. This combined effort will enhance graduates’ capabilities while leading to the application and generation of agricultural knowledge.
Key objectives of the collaboration
To support both RUFORUM and CABI missions through:
- enhancing access to agricultural knowledge discovery tools
- capacity building in agricultural knowledge management through training
- improving access to agricultural and environmental scientific knowledge
Results
RUFORUM member universities are benefitting from this collaboration through:
- privileged access to the CAB Abstract bibliographic database (via the CAB Direct platform). Member universities have access to 10 million records comprising 200,000 full text documents of which 56% are journal articles, 42% conference papers and 2% other grey literature
- privileged access to CABI Compendia: the Crop Protection Compendium, Animal Health and Production Compendium, Aquaculture Compendium, Forestry Compendium and the Invasive Species Compendium
- training and awareness in Agricultural Knowledge Management
This project ended in 2020, however, engagement with member universities has continued with a view to expanding collaborations by writing joint project proposals.
Donors
CABI Development Fund (CDF)
Partners
Consortium of African universities
Documents