Tutors in agric colleges equipped in digital farming to drive agriculture transformation

Five agricultural colleges in Ghana are stepping up efforts to transform agricultural education, with lecturers receiving hands-on training in drone technology and precision farming.

The initiative seeks to bridge the digital skills gap in agriculture, equipping lecturers to prepare a new generation of tech-savvy graduates.

Backed by the World Food Programme (WFP) and KOICA, the programme is expected to integrate digital agriculture into teaching and learning across the five colleges.

The teachers drawn from five agricultural colleges are taking a three-to-four-week practical drone usage and piloting lessons under the Digital Agriculture Training Programme, which is being gradually rolled out across the colleges.

The training-of-trainers programme, running from October 11 to November 14, is equipping teachers from the Kwadaso, Wenchi, Ejura, Damongo and Ohawu Agricultural Colleges.

Delivered by GI-KACE, participants are being exposed to precision farming, drone operations, agricultural data analysis, soil and moisture monitoring, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

The initiative aims to bridge the gap between classroom learning and industry needs by equipping instructors with the skills needed to teach practical digital agriculture.

The training followed a needs assessment across the colleges, establishing the critical gaps impeding agricultural pedagogy from meeting the revolutionising sector.

An instructor at the training, Ofori Nyamekye, shared that the training focused on data-based farming practices for food security and to enhance the agriculture industry.

“We are integrating the technological devices into agriculture to have data-driven information for good farming practices,” he noted.

The programme follows the handover of over US$500,000 worth of digital agriculture equipment to the five colleges, including drones, soil testers, weather stations, GPS devices and agricultural software.

Programme policy officer at WFP Ghana, Kyoreh Yoo, said the training would allow the teachers to deliver high-quality and practical training to students while targeting agriculture transformation.

“Through this approach, students in the colleges will ultimately gain knowledge, technical skills, and hands-on experience needed to apply those modern technologies in agriculture and also contribute to the transformation of the sector,” he said.

The Strengthening Digital Agriculture Skills Initiative is being implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP), in partnership with MoFA, GI-KACE, CTVET and the five participating colleges, with funding from the Government of the Republic of Korea through KOICA.

The Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) is expected to integrate the program into the standardized coursework for teaching and learning in agriculture colleges.

The Commission will also grant accreditation to institutions with plans to enlist the program as a study course while ensuring monitoring of the program’s implementation.