Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has called upon universities in the country to embrace agricultural innovations and research in bid to create solutions that will ease the cost of living.
Speaking at Nairobi University during the ground breaking of the Agricultural Technology and Innovation Centre (ATIC), the Prime CS said the agricultural sector is the backbone of the country’s economy.
He said the sector contributes approximately 33 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in addition to employing over 40 per cent of the total population and 70 per cent of the rural population.
“There is rising demand for agricultural products driven by population growth.
For instance, the Kenyan population is estimated to hit the 55 million mark this year.
To meet the rising demands of this rapidly growing population, we must invest and annually increase agricultural production by a minimum of 2 per cent.” He noted.
At the same time, Mudavadi said there is need to strengthen relationship between the academics and industry, especially university education to the industry so that benefits can be ripped.
“Such partnerships while enhancing the innovative capacity of our university graduates through internship programs, also enable universities to deploy industry players to offer practical experiences to enrich students’ learning as guests, visiting or adjunct lecturers,”
“Universities are designed to offer education and training and also conduct research to solve the problems afflicting society.
Now, more than ever before, we must strengthen the contribution of universities in delivering their research products to end users.” He added.
Mudavadi said innovations such as ATIC will enhance the efforts in university financial sustainability and that university managements have the responsibility to protect scarce resources by putting them to proper use.
By Vostine Ratemo
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