Egerton University, in line with its mission and mandate on extension training and outreach, has established a series of local and international partnerships and linkages in research, teaching, and industry. Among these partnerships is the ‘Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and Development’ (TAGDev) Program.
TAGDev is an 8 years (2016-2024) program implemented at Egerton University, Kenya and Gulu University in Uganda in partnership with Mastercard Foundation through the Regional Universities Forum for capacity building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). Inception of TAGDev program was designed to offer an innovative education model of experiential learning, community engagement and entrepreneurship with an aim of transforming African agricultural universities and their graduates to better respond to developmental challenges through enhanced application of science, technology, business and innovation for rural agricultural transformation. The TAGDev model connects tertiary agricultural education to rural communities, with an emphasis on smallholder farmers.
The TAGDev program has a component of community engagement and experiential learning through Community Action Research Program (CARP+) projects that seek to strengthen university-community linkages. The Seed Potato Value Chain (SPVC) CARP+ platform developed since 2018 to date, has impacted over 10,000 potato famers in Nakuru, Nyandarua, Elgeyo Marakwet and Bomet Counties in Kenya through its training and development efforts in the seed potato value chain of Kenya. The main objective of the SPVC CARP project has been to enhance production skills and access to high quality seed potato for improved incomes of small holder farmers. Farmers are trained on seed potato production, crop management, harvesting, postharvesting handling and storage as well as marketing and value addition.
The RUFORUM Blog 
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