Skills gaps in organic agriculture and SWOT analysis in higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Anglophone West Africa

Abstract

The difference between the skills required to carry out a task and the actual skills possessed by an individual is referred to as skills gap, and its analysis was carried out in seven randomly selected higher educational institutions (HEIs) in West Africa under the auspices of a European Union-funded project in 2009/2010 with contract number 197625 (old ref: 9-ACP-RPR-118). The project objective was to conduct an inventory of competencies and skills of employees directly involved in manpower development, facilities, and capabilities in these HEIs with a view of identifying critical skills required to achieve competence by the relevant staff and suggest interventions that can address the shortfalls in competency and facilities. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was used to appraise the status of the HEIs in relation to organic agriculture and appropriate strategies articulated to address the identified threats. About 98.1 % of the HEIs’ faculty staff possessed a postgraduate degree in the field of agriculture, and those directly involved in organic agriculture training had core competencies in crops (41.4 %), livestock (21.9 %), marketing (9.0 %), food science and technology (7.5 %), plant health (6.2 %), aquaculture (5.6 %), agro-forestry (3.1 %), animal health (1.9 %), and others (5.6 %). Appraisal of the adequacy of critical skills in 29 areas of specialization by staff in core areas revealed that 8 were adequate, 13 inadequate, and 8 grossly inadequate. Organic standard development and certification, organic livestock production, organic aquaculture management, and organic crop production were identified as key areas of specialization where training is required to close the identified gaps.