Faculty of Resource Management and Economics
            Department of Agribusiness and Value Chain Management
Rationale
Rationale of the program Addressing the current challenges in agricultural production and management, managing agribusiness industries, adapting and adopting of new technologies and the protection of firms from debilitating risks requires above all a meticulous and detailed economic analysis of the different situations within which the firms are expected to operate. To overcome overwhelming and dynamic challenges inherent in complex business environments, a country needs well trained personnel with profound knowledge of Agribusiness and Value Chain and high analytical and problem solving skills. Historically, a B.Sc. program in Agribusiness was offered at Haramaya and Adama Universities. It is obvious that the graduates of these universities made substantial contributions to the development of the Ethiopian agricultural sector. However, it has become apparent now that programmes have not adequately addressed the value chain aspect of agricultural commercialization and trained students in line with value chain principles and practices. Assessment of the needs of labor market shows that large commercial farms can foresee in their labor needs for lower level staff as well as middle and higher management. A staff with at BSc level is recruited and trained internally, with the most promising staff being promoted to middle and sometimes higher management levels. Though it is obvious that the companies usually like to see better trained B. Sc‟s, diploma holders and other recruits, notably in terms of applied skills, the described approach appears to work adequately. It appears, therefore, that there is little justification for major investments in practical skills formation more in line with the needs of the commercial agricultural sector, as this sector has both the capacity and the means to take care of its own labor needs.Read More