Education and change management in Africa : a new framework for human capital development in agriculture

Abstract

This study describes the nature of human capital development (HCD) in agriculture and rural development, and its implications on current programmes in the institutions of higher learning. This is in view of the fact that the majority of Africans are still trapped in an under performing rural and agricultural environment; and even emerging and developed economies on the continent still depend on agricultural performance to stimulate economic growth, food security and poverty alleviation. A framework is developed relating human capital to specialist role players in the agricultural and rural environment and challenges for human capital mobilisation in a number of specialist fields to impact positively on agriculture. This is then related to case studies in the South African environment and some generalizations and an agenda for change management are proposed.