A new online education platform, Agricolleges, aims to help create a fresh wave of farmers and agriculturalists in Africa.

It is expected to assist in the provision of education and training for small-scale farmers on the continent, which is one of four factors identified by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as holding back these farmers in Africa.

The WEF has noted that “most of those trained in agriculture end up growing bureaucracies rather than growing food crops”, which creates an ongoing and severe shortage of well-trained personnel entering the agri-sector and agri-related industries, including farm managers, section managers and sales personnel and poses a significant risk to food security on the continent.

The cloud-based Agricolleges will offer students the opportunity to access or continue their education in agri-sciences, with the first course to start in South Africa.

Founder and chairperson Howard Blight explained that students can study on computers and mobile devices with Internet access, providing a dynamic learning environment without the added costs of being on campus. “From 2018, we will venture north into the subcontinent, offering the same programmes to students from other African countries.

“While some universities throughout the country are turning away thousands of student applicants each year, due to a lack of facilities for students looking for some form of tertiary education, it is equally true that our universities are being asked to accommodate more and more poorly prepared and poorly resourced students with fewer and fewer resources to do so,” said Blight.

Diploma level courses studied through Agricolleges will meet both the needs of the industry to gain young, skilled agricultural talent, but also at a price-point that is affordable – under R29 000 a year.

In addition, various centres of excellence are being identified and will be established all around South Africa, to provide students with the practical and experiential component of the agri-sciences curriculum.

Several of these centres will be established at agricultural schools and colleges, to make effective use of existing available infrastructure and to reduce the capital investment required.

Others will be established in collaboration with certain megafarmers, irrigation companies, agri-chemical companies, packhouses and the like. The practical component will balance the theory – creating a blended learning solution for students.

Agricolleges has also forged a strategic alliance with Stellenbosch University, that will serve as a portal for the establishment of an e-learning curriculum at diploma level.

All final coursework will be approved by the university. It also signed with Mumbai-based innovations consultancy Consilience who will design and build the online courses.