Mission Statement:
The School of Agriculture and Food Technology (SAFT), under the current structure of USP, belongs to the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE). SAFT has the mission to assist in meeting the agricultural and related needs and improving the welfare and livelihood of the communities of the member countries of the University of the South Pacific by:
- Providing agricultural education to a wide range of people, directly through its teaching programmes and indirectly through the training of teachers and advisers.
- Developing and adapting new technologies to improve food production and food productivity and extend opportunities through balanced rural development that is sensitive to long-term community needs for resource conservation and sustainable development.
- Disseminating information throughout the region by face-to-face contact, as well as by extensive use of print and electronic media through collaboration with the Institute for Research, Extension and Training in Agriculture (IRETA).
Objectives:
In line with its mission statement, the School of Agriculture and Food Technology has the following objectives:
- Production of graduates who should be capable of accomplish the following:
- Effectively engage in agricultural production, research, education, and extension services that would provide sustainable solutions to agricultural and rural developmental problems and improve agricultural productivity in the region and beyond.
- Put their acquired knowledge and skills into practice by establishing and gainfully managing farms and other agro-allied enterprises, thereby becoming self-employing as well as creating employment for other people.
- Pursue postgraduate studies in their chosen field of agriculture anywhere in the world, in order to be better equipped to serve the national, regional, as well as international agricultural needs.
- Production of agricultural professionals that would complement and work synergistically with farmers and other stakeholders, to achieve national and regional food security goals.
- Localization of training to ensure that trained personnel acquire the capacity for identifying, prioritising and addressing the agricultural needs of their countries and the region.
- Serving as an effective instrument for the implementation of the policies of the national and regional governments in agriculture and rural development, thereby contributing prominently towards overall national and regional development.
