Relevance of Final Year Project?

In the final year of University (KNUST)  it is required of an individual to work on a project related to his/her field of study. The project proposal is  submitted and assessed before the individual can go ahead to work on it. Projects are chosen by the Individual or by his/her project supervisor.

 For most students getting a mark that will boost their CWAs is the reason they work extra hard on their project work. The Struggle for "Class" cause the student to assess the Importance of the project being worked on.

I noticed recently that most people are concerned about the results of their assessed projects rather than the Relevance of their projects to solve problems in the Agro-socioeconomic field  or enligthen the reader.

Two weeks ago I was asked a question that really got me thinking about my 43 page final year project. I was asked about the relevance of my project to agricultural development of Ghana? First my project topic flashed in my head, that which was instructed by my supervisor because of my interest in Environmental Soil Science.

cocoa pods

I worked on "The Effects of Aggregate Size on Soil Carbon Sequestration and Aggregate Stability of Soil Under Mature Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) Plantation". Much was done in the practicals and writing of this 43 page thesis but its relevance to the agricultural development of Ghana was not included as at the time the paper was being written as all I was thinking about was my mark-to-be-obtained multiplied by six. 

From my study of soil under mature Cocoa plantation, it was concluded that soils from these plantations had the ability to mitigate the amount of atmospheric Carbon dioxide; that which is a Green House Gas. Also soil stability was enhanced due to the large amount of humic matter that which also improved yield. 

The relevance of my project was in totality linked with using the soil and plants to mitigate atmospheric Carbon with proper management practices and Cocoa with a dense canopy cover was a good agent.

                                              "the Best Culture is Agriculture"


by: Akwasi A. Tagoe