Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) has joined a consortium of African universities to implement a four-year Intra-Africa academic mobility project aimed at strengthening agroforestry research and education for climate change mitigation.
The initiative, titled Strengthening Agroforestry Research and Education for Climate Change Mitigation in Africa (SERA), brings together JKUAT (Kenya), Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) as coordinator; Chinhoyi University of Technology (Zimbabwe), National University of Agriculture (Benin), and University of Juba (South Sudan) in a collaborative effort to strengthen agroforestry education, research capacity, and academic collaboration across East, West, and Southern Africa.
The project will support academic mobility and training for 30 MSc students, 10 PhD students, 14 trainees, and 11 academic staff through degree mobility, short-term credit mobility, joint supervision, and research exchanges. Partner institutions will also collaborate to review and harmonize curricula on agroforestry.
At JKUAT, the project will be led by Dr. Shem Kuyah, a Senior Lecturer from the department of Botany and one of Kenya’s leading researchers in Agroforestry, with the first cohort of masters, and PhD students expected in September 2026.
Agroforestry is widely recognized as a powerful strategy for addressing multiple environmental and socio-economic challenges, including climate change, biodiversity conservation, land restoration, and improved food and nutrition security.
It features prominently in the national development priorities of the five participating countries. In Kenya, agroforestry is a key strategy under the country’s climate commitments, particularly within the Kenya Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP).
Under the Constitution (2010), Kenya has set a national target to increase tree cover to at least 10% of the country’s land area. Agroforestry is the most practical pathway to achieve this target because most land in Kenya is privately owned farmland rather than forest land, and landscape restoration through agroforestry provides environmental benefits without displacing livelihoods.
Over the years, JKUAT’s Agroforestry Research has focused on climate action, sustainable land management, ecosystem restoration, and rural livelihood. Research is supported by both conventional and emerging tools such as remote sensing, GIS, drones, and data analytics for landscape monitoring and management.
With Funding from the European commission, SERA project will contribute to developing a new generation of African scientists and professionals equipped to advance climate-resilient land-use systems and sustainable agricultural landscapes.
The project will be supported by Stockholm University (Sweden) and Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (Morocco) serving as the Technical Partner and Associate Partner, respectively.
