UoN sets up new centre for agricultural tech, innovation
By Milliam.Murigi, August 7, 2023Institutions of higher learning have been urged to collaborate with industry players to ensure they enhance the innovative capacity of their graduates.
This can be done through internship programmes as well as deployment of industry players to offer practical experiences to enrich students’ learning as guest, visiting or adjunct lecturers.
“Tailor-made courses, designed and delivered with input from industry, can contribute vastly to moulding job-creators and job-compliant graduates,” said Musalia Mudavadi, Prime Cabinet Secretary during the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Kantaria Agricultural Technology and Innovation Centre (KATIC).
KATIC, which is located at the Nairobi University’s Upper Kabete campus, is Africa’s first Agricultural Technology and Innovation Centre. Its vision is to become a centre for excellence in innovation, practical training, incubation and commercialisation of market-demanded products and services.
Semi-skilled graduates
The Sh200 million facility will be built by the university in collaboration with Elgon Kenya Limited.
According to Musalia, for far too long, the debate on the value of university education to various sectors has raged on without practical interventions.
Kenya’s university have been accused of producing “unqualified” graduates who lack sufficient capacity to innovate, inadequate entrepreneurial skills, and poor work ethic. These grounds have been termed as some of the missing links between the university education and business development in Kenya.
Musalia argues that it is time the country strengthens its contribution of universities in delivering their research products to end users. He says Kenya must put behind the culture of dumping university research outputs, which have high potential to uplift the livelihoods of the communities in the libraries and instead, take the initiative to implement some of the recommendations.
“I am aware that the principles of publish or perish, strongly enforced in universities, has contributed to this state of affairs. However, this standard could be a double-edged sword. It can stimulate research, but it can also sacrifice potential innovations in favour of numerous quick publications,” he notes.
He reveals that though universities are designed to offer education and trainings, they also have the responsibility of conducting researches that solve the problems afflicting the society.
He adds “The low level of patents emanating from the university researches explains the gravity of this matter. Collaboration with industry is, therefore, necessary to usher in a new dawn founded on the principle of publish, patent and prosper.”
Capacity building
KATIC research and innovation centre will provide practical skills for the students and thereby bridge the “know-do’ gap. This will ensure that students leaving the university are well equipped with current industry requirements and practices.
The centre will also train farmers on modern farming techniques. Bimal Kantaria, Managing Director at Elgon Kenya Limited says the agricultural learning centre will thrive to showcase edge-cutting agricultural technologies, incubate and commercialise research outputs, provide extension services, mentor farmers and come up with tailor-made courses that will benefits farmers not only in Kenya, but the entire continent and beyond.
Agriculture students and experts will be at the heart of the centre in their quest for prudent and viable farming practises.
“This centre will promote innovation, build capacity and bridge the knowledge gap between industry, academia and farming communities while creating opportunities for all agricultural stakeholders,” says Kantaria.
The facility is coming to bridge the gap that exists between research and the industry. He says failure to fill up the knowledge gap as a country will reflect on our inabilities to succeed in agricultural transformation.
Kantaria says there is need for academia to engage more with the private sector in order to build capacity among continuing and graduating students. It is envisioned that the centre will foster seamless access to knowledge, learning materials as well as networks and linkages to students, farmers, and all agricultural stakeholders.
Train students
The centre, which will be accessible to any Kenyan seeking lessons in homegrown agricultural innovations, will provide wide range of practical solutions. It will also bring together private sector and academia to showcase new technologies and train students for further transmission to the agriculture community.
Vice Chancellor of University of Nairobi, Stephen Kiama, says that once the centre is operational, students graduating from university will be skilled enough to provide useful services to the agriculture sector.
“As a university we would not have been able to put up this centre on our own, but now, this collaboration will make it happen. That is why collaboration between institutions of higher learning and industry players are important,” says Kiama.
Kiama notes that the partnership between UON and Elgon Kenya is unique as it is student centred and focuses on providing solutions to the industry. The collaboration has also seen the company offering intership opportunities to the unversity’s students, thereby providing practical knowledge to the students.
So far, 25 students have benefitted, with six of them having being absorbed into the company while several others have ventured into their own enterprises.
“The Agricultural Technology and Innovation Centre will contribute immensely to the advancement of our vision, which is to be a world-class university committed to scholarly excellence. In addition, the centre is anchored on our mission, which is to provide quality university education and training,” says Kiama.