NMBU and Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania have officially renewed their partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The agreement was signed at the Klimahuset at the Natural History Museum in Oslo, at an event attended by the president of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, and Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim.
The visiting party from Tanzania included a delegation from SUA, who visited NMBU and Noragric last week. The MoU was signed by Vice Chancellor Raphael Tihelwa Chibunda of SUA and NMBU rector Siri Fjellheim.
“This is an important agreement for NMBU. We need global partnerships and collaboration when developing knowledge for solving global challenges”, stated Fjellheim.
Longstanding partnership
Amongst NMBU staff attending the event at Klimahuset was Head of Department Jennifer Joy West, who also coordinated the visit of the SUA delegation.
“The MoU marks the continuation of a five decades-long (fifty-year) collaboration between our institutions”, says West.
The partnership between NMBU and SUA dates back to 1973, involving joint research and education activities as well as support for institutional development. A main funder has been NORAD.
“This partnership has facilitated significant capacity building and academic exchange, with well over 100 students from both institutions participating in educational and research activities”, says West.
The renewed MoU emphasizes ongoing commitments to addressing global challenges through collaborative research and capacity building. It stresses the importance of sustainable agricultural practices and the role of education in promoting food security and environmental stewardship.
According to West, joint programs such as the TARPII, PANTIL, EPINAV and CCIAM programs have directly contributed to enhancing food security and supporting smallholder farmers in Tanzania.
Mutual benefits
“We are all in this together” stated Secretary of State Anne Beate Tvinnereim at the signing event, emphasizing the importance of working together across borders when addressing issues like climate change, poverty, and food shortages.
The benefits of the partnership have been manyfold for NMBU and Noragric, West explains, telling how it has contributed to the global classroom at our university and enhanced NMBUs capability to addressing broader environment and development issues:
“We have developed international knowledge networks and alumni and strengthened our dissemination of both scientific and policy publications. The collaboration has enabled strong interdisciplinary research collaboration to this day and provided opportunities for public-private cooperation. Also, our scientific capacity for solving challenges related to agriculture and sustainability in tropical environments in interdisciplinary ways has increased.”
The collaboration will continue to focus on practical and applied research, with an emphasis on involving youth and women in agriculture, improving soil and plant health, contributing to sustainable livelihoods and enhancing food and nutritional security and sovereignty.
“The NMBU-SUA partnership stands as an example of how international academic collaborations can contribute to sustainable development goals”, says West.
The delegation from SUA consisted of Vice Chancellor Raphael Tihelwa Chibunda, Principal Nyambilila Abdallah Amuri (College of Agriculture) and Director of Postgraduate Studies, Research, Technology Transfer and Consultancy, Japhet Joel Kashaigili.
