Not a comment section. Every lecturer on the faculty sits on the committee, holds office hours, and answers in these channels — and two elected student representatives sit alongside them with full speaking rights.
Decisions, changes to courses, and the things the committee has been asked to look at.
Final assessments for all fourteen courses are open on demand — there is no fixed sitting. If you are working towards the Advanced GAP Practitioner award, the committee reviews stacked submissions on the first Monday of each month.
Dr. Amara Okonkwo — Chair, Lecturers' Committee
Two student representatives now sit on the committee with full speaking rights: Fatima Bello (extension) and Miguel Andrade (students). Bring anything you would rather raise through a representative than in the open channels to either of them.
Grace Wanjiru — Secretary, Lecturers' Committee
Eleven of you told us the texture-by-hand exercise was hard to follow without a demonstration. Module 1 has been rewritten in full and now walks the procedure step by step. Thank you — this is exactly the sort of report that changes a course.
Prof. Daniel Mbeki — Lead Instructor, Soil & Water
Following the IPM course scouting protocol. Counts have sat at about 80% of the action threshold for four days. Last week I had good ladybird larvae numbers; this week almost none, and I did not spray anything. Do I treat the loss of the predators as a reason to act early, or is that exactly the panic the course warns about?
Dr. Lena Fischer Committee Lead Instructor, Crop Protection · 9 Mar 2026 · 09:05
Losing the predators is information, not a trigger. Ask why they left — a nearby field sprayed, a heat event, or they ate themselves out of food and dispersed. If the aphid count is flat and the predators left because prey ran low, you are watching the system work. Re-scout in two days and look for parasitised mummies before you decide.
Samuel Adeyemi Committee Lead Instructor, Sustainability · 9 Mar 2026 · 12:40
Worth adding: check your field margins. If the habitat strip has been cut recently that alone will empty the predator population for a fortnight.
Fatima Bello Student representative · 10 Mar 2026 · 06:15
We had the same pattern across three plots in Kaduna last season. Waiting was right twice and cost us once — the difference was whether the crop was at a susceptible growth stage.
I passed the soil course final at 74%. I would like to sit it again to raise the mark before I put the certificate in front of a buyer. Is that allowed, and which mark appears on the certificate?
Dr. Lena Fischer Committee Assessment lead · 7 Mar 2026 · 08:30
Yes. You have three attempts and the highest mark is the one recorded, so a retake can only help you. The questions are redrawn from the bank on every attempt, so it is a genuine second sitting rather than a memory test. Your full attempt history stays on your exam record — the certificate shows the best result.
Soil test says pH 5.1, buffer pH 6.4, CEC 11. Module 4 gives the method but my answer comes out at nearly three tonnes per hectare, which feels enormous. Sanity check appreciated.
Prof. Daniel Mbeki Committee Lead Instructor, Soil & Water · 4 Mar 2026 · 13:10
Your arithmetic is probably right and your instinct is also right — both can be true. A buffer pH of 6.4 on that CEC does call for a large correction, but you do not apply it in one pass. Split it: half now, re-test in twelve months, the remainder after that. Applying three tonnes at once risks over-correcting the surface while the subsoil stays acid.
Adaeze Nwosu Farm manager · 4 Mar 2026 · 15:22
That is the part I was missing — thank you. Splitting it also spreads the cost across two budgets.
Raising this formally on behalf of two co-operatives in Kano. The safety course is the one we most want to put in front of spray operators, and it is the one where reading it in a second language matters most. Is translation on the roadmap, and can we help fund it?
Dr. Amara Okonkwo Committee Chair, Lecturers' Committee · 25 Feb 2026 · 16:45
Accepted onto the agenda for the March meeting. Translation is on the roadmap but unfunded, and the safety course is the right one to do first for exactly the reason you give. If your co-operatives can contribute, that moves it from 'planned' to 'scheduled' — write to the committee and we will put numbers on it.
Grace Wanjiru Committee Secretary · 26 Feb 2026 · 07:30
Minuted. I will circulate a cost estimate before the meeting so the discussion starts from a figure.
Informal group working through the post-harvest course together. We meet on a voice call on Saturday mornings and take one module a week. Open to anyone in the region, no commitment, come and go as your season allows.
Grace Wanjiru Committee Lead Instructor, Post-Harvest · 19 Feb 2026 · 08:00
Happy to drop into one of these once a month if it is useful. Send me the date the week before.
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