02 Sep 2024

To attain Vision 2036 aspirations, local universities should retool and upskill Batswana with agricultural and natural resources skills, says Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) Vice Chancellor, Prof Ketlhatlogile Mosepele.

Giving a public lecture on Vision 2036 during a roundtable panel discussion in Gaborone on Thursday, Prof Mosepele said skills development in agriculture and natural resources was paramount and that more Batswana needed to get into the sector.

Her said BUAN was developing five bachelors’ degree programmes, and working on a pre-facts programme with regional partners. He disclosed that the institution was also in the process of developing eight MPhil programmes, 11 Master of Science and nine PhD programmes to respond to the skills gap existing in the sector.

He revealed a plan to develop vocational programmes to cater for the over 25 000 youths who do not progress to tertiary institutions annually. 

He stated that there would be a 12-months vocational programme anchored on the open digital standing platform, and that it would train out of school youth on the entire value chain of the agriculture and natural resources sectors.

He explained that the programmes would be production oriented and would include aquaculture, horticulture, small-stock production and small-game ranching. Prof Mosepele noted that the university was implementing research projects worth over P55 million on several strategic areas such as cereals and crop development, livestock development, renewable natural resources, particularly bio-diversity conservation, non-renewable resources, energy, water and land.

He said BUAN offered teaching and learning in different courses covering key areas in the agriculture and natural resources sector. 

He noted that the three-year programme designed for BUAN's undergraduates and graduates, saying it took them through the lifecycle of a business, adding that at the end of the programme, the graduates were given seed capital to start their own businesses but that the numbers taken in were limited due to lack of funding, hence the need for partners.

Prof Mosepele announced the launch of the Setshaba programme that will focus on start-ups, and that it would use graduates as mentors for the trainees.

He stated that the university’s agri-voltac plant was producing food and electricity for the university, adding that a solar training centre  would be set up to develop technical skills in solar energy.

Another technological innovation, Professor Mosepele said, was the water purification plant and that it purified sewage water for food production. He noted that it used solar energy to purify the water.

He said the university was creating a future hinged on centres of excellence and that it would drive strategic areas of research. ENDS