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HE Mahama Urges African Govts to Invest in Agric Research

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The President of Ghana H.E John Dramani Mahama has challenged African governments to give more money to their universities to be able to carry out more applicable research.

President Dramani Mahama made the call in a speech read for him by the Vice President H.E Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur (pictured) at the official opening of the 6th Africa Agricultural Science Week and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) General Assembly running from 15th – 20th July at Accra International Centre, Ghana.

President Dramani Mahama said that if African governments funded research and innovations in African universities, this would increase agricultural production thus ensuring food security and poverty reduction on the continent.

The conference is being held under the theme “Africa Feeding Africa through Agricultural Science and Innovations.”

President Dramani Mahama said that his government’s spending on agricultural research and development has deliberately more than doubled in the last ten years adding that this has increased food production, made food more affordable for Ghana’s citizens, reduced inflation and spurred economic development.

Delivering the keynote address, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr Kanayo F. Nwanze noted that small farms accounted for eighty per cent of all farms in sub-Saharan Africa and contributed about ninety per cent of agricultural produce.

He said successful small farms could create vibrant rural economies with a range of non-farm enterprises, providing a variety of jobs, decent income and food security on the continent.
With over 35 years in focusing on poverty reduction through agriculture, rural development and research, Dr. Nwanze challenged African leaders to take the many opportunities that modern day agriculture presented to the continent.

He noted that Africa has the largest share of the world's uncultivated land with rain-fed crop potential, adding that the interest of foreign investors to capitalize on the untapped potential of the continent's fertile lands needed to be a source of worry to nations.

The Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission (AUC) Mrs. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime called upon African countries to strengthen partnerships that would provide the needed resources and technologies to support farmers on the continent to boost food production.

Mrs. Tumusiime said such partnerships are critical to ensure that farmers are well equipped with the right farming practices, through technological innovation, storage and market accessibility.

She said because the need and demand for food is critical in the world, food production must be given a boost by all member countries.

Mrs. Tumusiime pledged that the African Union with its commitment to transform the income of all Africans, would continue to support, particularly, small scale farmers and women farmers with the technologies in improving food production. She challenged African universities to come up with innovations and technologies that can empower farmers.

The week-long event, being attended by about 1,200 delegates, including ministers of agriculture, science and technology, researchers, farmers, extensionists, civil society, development partners and Universities. Uganda’s State Minister for Agriculture Prof. Zerubabel Nyiira, Makerere University’s Prof. Samuel Kyamanya, Prof. David Kabasa, Prof. Elly Sabiiti, Prof. Moses Tenywa Makoma and Dr. Donald Koganza among others are attending the conference. Others include Executive Director RUFORUM Prof. Adipala Ekwamu and his staff.

The 6th Annual Science Week, and the range of events taking place alongside it, play a critical role in responding to burning issues in African agricultural Research and development. The recommendations emanating from the conference will take center stage in shaping Africa’s agenda for food security, poverty reduction and economic development over the next three years and will also contribute to global initiatives for African development for the post MDG era.

FARA is an apex organization bringing together and forming coalitions of major stakeholders in agricultural research and development in Africa. It is a strategic platform that fosters continental and global networking to reinforce the capacities of Africa’s agricultural science and innovation community from research, education and training, extension and civil society engaged in agriculture.

At the same event, FARA honoured President John Dramani Mahama with the Africa Award for Excellence in Food Security and Poverty Reduction at the same programme on Thursday.

 

Story by Jovia Musubika Kavulu, Jane Anyango and Agaba Issa Mugabo

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Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

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The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.

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Mature Age Scheme Exam Results for 2025/2026

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The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released full results for the Mature Age Entry Scheme Examinations for the Academic Year 2025/2026 held on Saturday 14th December, 2024.

The Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the examination and have been recommended by the Pre-Entry & Mature Age Committee to the University’s Admissions Board for Consideration.

The Aptitude Exam  Results for 2025/2026 Academic Year released in February 2025 can be found here.

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Call for Application: 2025 SNRM session 4 Summer School

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Participants in focused group discussions. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus East Africa Research Network (LEARN) in collaboration with the Urban Action Lab at Makerere University a workshop to deliberate strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change in urban centres in the East African Region, Theme: “Resilient Urban Futures: Adapting Livelihoods to Climate Change”, 4th-5th September 2024, School of Public Health Auditorium, Kampala Uganda.

Context:
Natural resources in Africa are being depleted at an alarming rate due to several factors, including unsustainable human activities, climate change, and population growth. A primary condition of sustainable development is to ensure that the pressures do not exceed the environmental limits, and that demand for the resources does not exceed levels that can be sustainably provided by nature. Therefore, there is a pressing need for transformative, systems-thinking approaches and tools that can tackle the diverse challenges facing these systems. In Africa, this need is compounded by a lack of data and monitoring, which significantly hinders sustainable decision-making.

Investing in young scientists who are committed to take lead in sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources is very important. Capacity building of young scientists will enhance their knowledge and skill on sustainable natural resources and their involvement for implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Africa. To this effect, SNRM summer schools have been implemented in three sessions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 with support from Volkswagen Foundation; to build a critical mass of skilled and competent young natural resource scientists in Africa through training, capacity building and mentorship. Session 4 (2025) will target competent young scientists (MSc and PhD students) in Africa and Germany to further develop their knowledge and skills in systems thinking, advanced data collection and analysis, and application of emerging digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), and embracing transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, we include an ideation workshop where students can work on real problems to come up with solutions for sustainable transformations in natural resource use.

Organizers: Leibniz Universität – Hannover (Germany), University of Antananarivo, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana (Ghana), University of Parakou (Benin), The Technical University of Kenya, with financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).

Venue and dates: Nairobi, Kenya, 16-28 November 2025

Target: MSc and PhD students, early in the program of less than 35 years of age from any university/research institution in either sub-Saharan Africa or Germany with an interest in natural resources management.

Participants and Scholarships: The course is fully funded and open to 20 MSc and PhD students from Africa, and 5 from Germany. Funding will cover the costs of air ticket, accommodation, meals, visa, and transportation. However, participants will cover the cost of their travel health insurance.

Topics

SNRM Summer School Session 4: Transformative pathways in biodiversity management and conservation.
This summer school is designed to deliver four modules over a two-week period. The modules are designed to enable the students to acquire new ways of designing data collection protocols and analysis for transformative sustainable natural resources management.

Module 4.1: Data collection I
Skills in data collection for a transformative and sustainable management of natural resources (water, wildlife, forest, land, livestock, crops) monitoring and data collection techniques; remote monitoring tools, earth observation system data, e.g. satellite data sources, LIDAR, and UAV aerial images. Collect and analyse In-situ data on biotic and abiotic parameters, map and analyse data using R or Google Earth Engine, field data collection and retrieving data from online databases.

Module 4.2 Data management and processing
Introduction to tools and methods of managing large and diverse data sets of natural resources such as time series, spatial, directional, and multivariate data. Practicals will include data storage, organization and conversion into various formats using databases such as PostgreSQL and statistical programming software such as R and Python; scripts.

Module 4.3 Ecological monitoring, modelling and management
This module aims to teach participants how to anticipate and validate trends that can be observed in various ecosystems. Lectures include ecological monitoring and its design; population monitoring studies; metrics in population monitoring; methods for monitoring and assessing marine ecosystems; human ecology to socio-ecological systems; climate change impact of ecosystems; suitability assessments; overview of the principles underlying wildlife monitoring and prediction systems for climate change adaptation. Practicals will include field data collection (individual and group); ecological data analysis using R or PAST; modelling and experiencing the behaviour of complex systems using Vensim.

Module 4.4 Natural habitat restoration ideation lab
This module is designed to spur students’ innovation and creativity, and to help students comprehensively identify interdependencies across the 17 SDG goals. Participants will be trained on ideation processes for solutions and intervention for transformative natural resource management. They will work collaboratively in small groups on case studies and develop pathways of transformative sustainable natural resource management. Examples of projects include forest (mangrove) ecosystem and habitat restoration, improved technologies for agricultural production, nature-based solutions for improving water quality, and reversing land degradation.

Language: The course will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to be fluent in writing and speaking the English language.

How to apply

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from https://snrmafrica.com/ and submit the following documents in English through the system.

  • a curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
  • a letter of motivation (maximum 1 page)
  • a confirmation of university enrolment
  • a reference letter from the academic supervisor
  • project summary of MSc/ PhD project (1 page including objectives, methodology
    and key findings or expected outcomes).

Important dates
Application deadline: 30th June 2025.
Announcement of accepted applicants: 15th August 2025.
Confirmation of attendance by selected participants: 12th Sept 2025.
Summer school held: 16 – 28 Nov 2025.

Further information is available from

The secretariat info@snrmafrica.com
Dr Lydia Olaka lydiaolaka@tukenya.ac.ke
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stuetzel stuetzel@gem.uni-hannover.de

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