The training of extension workers should emphasize skills and knowledge for sustained crop production and strategies for the prevention of food losses during harvest, storage, marketing and processing. Secondary-level education and below In East Africa, at the secondary school level, there are several examples where agriculture is an examination subject and, along with other science subjects, is providing the foundation for secondary students who want to study agriculture at the tertiary level. In West Africa, the study of agriculture in regular secondary schools is very limited and is an issue that needs to be addressed as part of national and regional educational policy. At the elementary level, the study of agriculture is severely limited. In some instances, school gardens have been promoted, but in general agriculture is not taught as a subject at the elementary level.
Rural students drop out of school at a very high rate.
In many cases, as many as 90 percent do not go beyond elementary school. If they are to study agriculture in a school setting, it will have to be at the elementary level. The farming population comes from rural youth and Africa's food security depends on those farmers. The total population in West Africa will triple between 1950 and 2000, and urban population levels are growing at an even faster rate. With the exception of Burkina Faso, per capita food intake is diminishing.