Research

We conduct various research activities that aim at contributing to the national, regional and global developmental agenda in areas of agriculture, forestry, natural resources, animal and public health, nutrition and environment. Our research agenda responds to the contemporary and emerging needs of agriculture, natural resources and allied sectors. We have strong collaborative research linkages with various stakeholders and researchers within Tanzania, African region and international communities. Our Research policy priorities are focused on finding sustainable solutions and advancing knowledge to address National, African Regional and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) related to food security and agriculture, forestry, natural resource management,  animal and public health, agribusiness, market and entrepreneurship, education and information technology.

SUA Research Policy Statement:
To conduct research for sustainable development of Tanzania in order to eradicate poverty, conserve nature and the environment, optimize management and use of natural resources, stem resource use conflict, improve livelihoods, contribute to good governance and empowerment of the people.

Our Research focus areas and strengths
Sokoine University of Agriculture has the following expertise and strengths:

• Agriculture and food security: Improvement, optimization and innovation irrigation technologies, pre- and post harvest handling and value addition, agro-processing technologies, human nutrition and food security, crop and livestock improvement, land and soil resource management;
• Resource Use Conflicts and Integration: environmental conservation, range management, crop-livestock interaction;
• Agricultural mechanization and automation: Machinery and mechanization, post-harvest engineering and management;
• Policy Analysis, Good Governance, Crosscutting and Strategic Studies: Socio-economic and policy-related factors influencing agricultural transformation, good governance, gender and development, agricultural support services and value chain actors’ organization, food security and demographic surveillance, mitigation of HIV/AIDS impact on agriculture and societal development, indigenous knowledge and technology;
• Natural Resources Management and the environment: Resource assessment and development of technologies for management of forest resources, ecosystem governance and biodiversity conservation for sustainable development, wood energy resources, non-timber forest products, environmental research, education and protection, pollution prevention and control, biodiversity conservation, wildlife management and conservation;
• Vector and Pest Management: biology and ecology of animal and plant pests, innovative rodent pest management and biosensor technology development, vector-borne and zoonotic disease prevention and control;
• Animal and Public Health Management: Epidemiology and control of endemic and emerging diseases, development of pharmaceuticals and biological, use of advanced molecular-based diagnostic approaches in disease investigation/diagnosis and management,  indigenous ethnoveterinary and phytomedicine practices, application mobile technologies and participatory approaches in disease surveillance and management;
• Information Management, Documentation, Dissemination and Communication: Application of ICT technologies for disseminating research results and poverty reduction, access to and effective use of e-resources for development, knowledge management, systems modeling and simulation;
• Finance, Entrepreneurship and Business Development:   entrepreneurship, business development studies, Finance studies.