Beginning doctoral studies is one important step and is great for many reasons including self-esteem, usefulness to society and contribution to science fields especially when science is a passion. However, completion of a doctoral program is quite another! Obtaining a PhD can be considered a daunting task for many people. The four-year journey I took seemed endless. Having experienced it myself, I realized that you have to make sacrifices, disposing your nerves to constant pressure and stresses that are hard to surmount. With the support, determination and focus, I completed my PhD in the best possible time and I fully admit that it was a unique and enjoyable experience in its substance.
Now that I have closed my PhD journey, I can reflect on all that I have experienced and the lessons I learned. The past four years of my thesis (2018-2021) were very emotional; after this long journey filled with many actions and learnings, I have been declared Doctor of Agronomic Sciences, Option: Sciences and Techniques of Plant Production.
I can absolutely empathize with what Thomas Edison said about success, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Our greatest weakness is to give up. The surest way to succeed is always to try one more time.” Indeed, the journey to this doctorate has not been as seamless as one would expect. There have been twists and turns as well as unexpected obstacles. This journey has left me sweating, and at times, it would push me to the deepest levels of hopelessness.
I had passion for agro-ecology and I realized that when you are passionately committed to research, it becomes interesting knowing that you are working towards an important goal. Finishing a doctoral dissertation requires a realistic topic, consistent skills, supportive and tenacious supervisors, and most importantly, a dynamic and flexible support system. I realized that a PhD is a tremendous undertaking in which you can try to push the boundaries of knowledge and commitment over a period of years.
The exigencies of daily existence are always present. For adult (married) students such as myself, the family obligations must be balanced with the Dissertation.
It is essential to have supervisors who can understand your situation and circumstance at any time and guide you to move forward. I was fortunate to have very supportive supervisors who guided me through the various constraints. I have a thought full of gratitude towards my promoters for the guidance and friendly working environment, which contributed significantly to my training and to the successful completion of this work. The scientific and human values linked to their personalities will always be worth my full admiration.
In spite of supportive supervisors, the journey towards a PhD is always a lonely process. I would be lying if I said otherwise. In the face of intense pressure from all sides causing indelible stresses, there have always been times when I seriously doubted my abilities and thought of dropping out. A very important thing to consider in the success of doctoral studies is the network in which doctoral studies are supported. This network constitutes a real anchor tool in matters of support and motivation. The holding and the outcome of my doctoral studies is the outcome of a tripartite collaboration between the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Université Evangélique en Afrique and University of Abomey-Calavi.
Through a collaborative framework based on training and mobility of PhD students, the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin) provided me with a free tuition and training as well as a modest space to work; the Université Evangélique en Afrique (DR Congo), my home university, supported my travel and other related expenses and part of the research and RUFORUM formalized the framework of collaboration and supported financially a large part of my research; my sincere gratitude goes to these three institutions.
Completing a PhD is not just about being a keyboard warrior or a passionate thinker, it’s about exposing yourself to a broader research ecosystem that enables you to expand into dimensions beyond your thesis. It also provides great leverage to keep you pushing ahead and not faltering. Participating in the various seminars and conferences of high scientific significance in which I participated as part of the RUFORUM network allowed me to recognize and identify myself as a scientist, an academic, and a major actor of development. This support demonstrates the network’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for students to pursue their research in order to effectively contribute to the development of their terroirs through the knowledge mobilized along their curriculum. This is also a great asset in the personal development in terms of career within the context of an environment that is too unpredictable and especially in a key area of society like agriculture.
In the region, the market gardening system is vulnerable due to certain practices of productivist agriculture that does not promote sustainability, in particular the practice of monoculture and the quantitative opening to synthetic chemical products such as fertilizers and pesticides. The knowledge mobilized in my research allowed me to highlight the following facts:
- Small farms are more sustainable than large farms;
- Integrating legumes into the vegetable cropping system is an effective approach to securing production factors and enhancing production;
- The use of local products as fertilizers is an effective way to restore and manage soil fertility.
- Integrated crop–livestock–aquaculture farming systems: synergic approaches for agricultural sustainability in south-Kivu.
Thanks to RUFORUM, through my thesis, I have succeeded in gaining a series of knowledge on agroecology as a major tool for the sustainability of production and production factors in a pivotal area of agriculture, the market gardening.
In conclusion, if I could go back in history, would I go for a PhD again? The answer is a resounding yes! Although it has been difficult, it has been a fruitful and interesting journey. I was not born intelligent; it was hard work, the support from my supervisors, my Universities and RUFORUM that got me where I am now. I am glad to have chosen this path. My PhD journey has made me more resilient and optimistic for my personal destiny, the destiny of my country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the destiny of my Province, South Kivu and the destiny of Africa my Continent and even the world our absolute heritage
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