Master of Science in Agrifood Systems Intelligence
Agricultural transformation programmes across the continent are commissioned, funded and evaluated by people who cannot interrogate the data underneath them. This programme produces the senior analyst who can model a value chain end to end,...
Employment thesis
What this programme is designed to produce
Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2031.
Roles
- Agrifood systems analyst
- agricultural programme designer and evaluator
- value chain strategist
- agricultural data and digital lead
- policy analyst
- corporate sourcing and sustainability manager.
Employer types
- Ministries of agriculture and planning authorities
- development banks and donors
- international agricultural organisations
- food and beverage corporates
- agritech firms
- research institutes
- and consulting practices.
Target outcomes we hold ourselves to
- Senior analytical and programme roles with strong donor, government and corporate demand.
Compulsory · The Forward Core
How the Core works →Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.
- AI Fluency
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Ethics and African Context
- Human-Advantage Skills
- Enterprise
Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning
Am I eligible?
Check yourself against the published requirements
7 questions written specifically for Master of Science in Agrifood Systems Intelligence. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.
What is the highest qualification you hold?
Curriculum structure
The same degree, in both pathways
Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.
Path One term plan shown
Path One · The Term Model
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 501 | Applied Intelligence for Professionals Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| FDC 502 | Research Evidence and Method Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| AFT 510 | Agrifood Systems and Value Chain Analysis Both | 6 | 4-2-2 |
| AFT 511 | Data Science for Agriculture Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| AFT 512 | Agricultural and Food Economics Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| AFT 513 | Research Design and Causal Inference Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 503 | Governance, Ethics and Leadership of Intelligent Systems Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| AFT 520 | Geospatial and Remote Sensing Analytics for Agriculture Performance | 7 | 4-2-4 |
| AFT 521 | Programme Design, Evaluation and Impact Measurement Both | 6 | 4-2-2 |
| AFT 522 | Climate Risk and Food Security Modelling Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| AFT 523 | Digital Agriculture Systems and Data Governance Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| AFT 524 | Advanced Elective Objective | 3 | 2-2-0 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFT 530 | Dissertation: Applied Agrifood Commission (client verified) Performance | 20 | 0-2-38 |
| AFT 531 | Agricultural Policy, Trade and Institutions Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| AFT 532 | Research Communication and Policy Translation Objective | 5 | 4-2-0 |
Total credit units: 90
Curriculum source
Forward University Curriculum Compendium
Assessment
Coursework + project + integrated exam
Work-integrated learning
12 months paid co-operative education
Your week at Forward
A typical week on Master of Science in Agrifood Systems Intelligence
Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Curriculum explorer
Drill into the degree, step by step
Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.
Step 1, choose a year
Step 2, choose a term
TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY SEMESTER 1
Year 1 · this step is worth 30 CU
Cumulative
30
Programme total
90
30 CU of 90 CU completed by the end of this step (33%)
Step 3, choose a course
Pick a course to see the detail
Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.
The twelve Forward capabilities
What this programme develops in you
Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.
- C1Intelligent Systems Fluency CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C2Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C3Ethical and Contextual JudgementLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C4Communication and PersuasionLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C5Disciplinary MasteryLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C6Technical Production and CraftLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C7Problem Framing and Systems Thinking CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy CriticalLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C10Professional Conduct and Workplace PerformanceLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive CapacityLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C12Stewardship and Public ContributionLevel 3 of 4, Independent
Critical capabilities for this programme: Intelligent Systems Fluency · Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning · Problem Framing and Systems Thinking · Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.
Programme Learning Outcomes
What you will be able to do
Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.
- PLO 1Model an agrifood value chain and locate its binding constraints with evidence.
- PLO 2Apply machine learning and geospatial analysis to agricultural and food systems questions.
- PLO 3Design and evaluate agricultural interventions with defensible causal methods.
- PLO 4Design data and digital systems for agricultural programmes at scale.
- PLO 5Assess climate, market and food security risk and communicate it to decision makers.
- PLO 6Conduct and report applied research to publication or commission standard.
Why this programme exists
Agricultural transformation programmes across the continent are commissioned, funded and evaluated by people who cannot interrogate the data underneath them. This programme produces the senior analyst who can model a value chain end to end,...
Admission requirements
A Bachelor's degree of at least Second Class Lower Division in agriculture, economics, statistics, engineering, computing or a cognate discipline. Alternative pathways: Foundation Year, diploma entry with advanced standing, mature age entry and recognition of prior learning, all governed by Part A5 and Part G. Online applicants additionally complete the compulsory Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.
Agriculture & Food Systems
Other open programmes in this School
Bachelor of Science in Precision Agriculture and Agricultural Robotics
Agricultural robotics has just been named a distinct undergraduate discipline in the world's largest higher education system, and the reason is arithmetic rather than fashion: farm labour is becoming scarcer and more expensive everywhere, i...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Food Science, Safety and Value Addition
Uganda exports raw commodities and imports processed food made from them. The gap between those two sentences is the country's single largest unclaimed industrial opportunity, and it is not closed by policy alone: it is closed by food techn...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Analytics and Digital Trade
The binding constraint on African agriculture is increasingly not production but the market: price discovery, aggregation, quality grading, finance, logistics and the paperwork of cross border trade. The African Continental Free Trade Area ...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Animal Science and Intelligent Aquaculture
Demand for animal protein in East Africa is rising faster than production, and the deficit is being met by imports. Meanwhile fish farming, which the region has the water and climate to dominate, remains largely artisanal. This programme co...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Crop Science with Plant Genomics
Climate change is outrunning the pace of conventional breeding, and the crops that matter most to African food security — banana, cassava, millet, sorghum, beans — receive a fraction of the global breeding investment given to temperate cere...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Food Technology and Industrial Processing
Scaling a food product from a pilot batch to an industrial line, and keeping it compliant enough to export, is where most African food manufacturing ambition fails. This programme is built for that specific failure: process scale up, plant ...
View programme PhDDoctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Innovation
Doctoral research in agricultural technology, crop and animal improvement, food systems and agricultural data science, anchored in African production realities. The programme requires peer reviewed publication before submission and a transl...
View programme