RETHINKING AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION: WHEN THEORY STAYS ON PAPER AND FIELDS LIE EMPTY

A Reflection for the Next Generation In recent years, a question has quietly troubled my conscience — one that, perhaps, every agricultural graduate must confront: Why do so many of us, trained in agriculture, avoid becoming farmers? As a university professor, I spent years teaching Crop Science, Soil Chemistry, Agribusiness, and Agricultural Engineering. My lectures were rooted in research, theory, and innovation. Yet, for the longest time, I never tilled a single plot of land for my own food or livelihood. It felt contradictory. While we perfected spreadsheets and soil maps in our academic halls, ordinary men and women with no university background were cultivating tonnes of food , building wealth, and quietly transforming Africa's food systems. They were not constrained by theory; they were moved by necessity, determination, and daily innovation. Meanwhile, we — the "trained" ones — drifted into jobs far removed from the field: The Crop Science graduate manag...