PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Sept. 18, 2023) – Prairie View A&M University’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (CAFNR) has successfully lobbied for the state of Texas to match the amount of funding CAFNR receives from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The “Ag match” will help the College further its mission to enhance lives through education, research and public service. The funds will support CAFNR’s growth, meet the needs of students and expand services for its limited-resource clientele, says Dr. Gerard D’Souza, CAFNR dean and director of land-grant programs.
“A condition of each of the 1890 land-grant universities (LGUs) receiving its National Institute of Food and Agriculture capacity funding is that its state matches the funding at least one-to-one,” D’Souza said. “Historically, the amount our College has received from the state has been around 45 to 50%. Prairie View A&M now joins the majority of the 19 members of the 1890 LGUs that receive the full ag match from their respective states. This is a pivotal moment for us to demonstrate a strong return on this investment.”
The Evans-Allen and Extension Policy Acts of 1977 made PVAMU and the other 1890 HBCUs eligible to receive NIFA capacity funding. However, D’Souza explains, “It was not until the late 1990s that the institutions received meaningful base (capacity) funding to carry out their mission to enhance quality of life for minority and underserved audiences.”
The fight for a full state match has been a priority for the College for years, with many stakeholders and CAFNR supporters pushing for funding. Earlier this year, D’Souza met with state legislators in Austin to advocate the Ag match, and shortly after, the Texas State Senate acknowledged the College in a resolution, commending CAFNR’s achievements and proclaiming the Senate’s support for its efforts.
PVAMU’s current capacity and facilities funding (pre-match) from NIFA is approximately $15 million per year, D’Souza noted. That amount has been growing by approximately $1 million per year over the past several years.
With the full state match coming in the next fiscal year, PVAMU’s funding will increase to approximately $30 million.
The additional funding will increase the College’s service area by providing more resources for the College’s underserved stakeholders throughout Texas. CAFNR currently serves about one million of the state’s underserved population with its current funds through the Cooperative Extension Program (CEP). But with the funding match, CEP will be able to double the number of people it serves, particularly in rural communities with limited resources. “Over the past five years, we’ve grown our presence to have county agents in 56 counties. We are now poised to be present in almost 100 counties by next year,” D’Souza said. “The funding will increase our workload capacity and enable us to provide more extension agents and community programs.”
CEP programs, including Wellness in Houston, which focuses on reducing health and nutritional disparities across the lifespan and workforce development, and Agricultural and Natural Resources Program programs, including those focusing on food and water security, green energy, responsive agriculture, sustainable natural resource management, and climate-smart agriculture will expand in reach and in impact.
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