Kombolcha Agricultural College / KAC/ was established in 1977 by the government of Ethiopia in collaboration with the World Bank. The college is found in Kombolcha – the federal industrial town, and is located 376 kms North-East of the capital –Addis Ababa and 23 kms South –East of the zonal town – Dessie.
The former agricultural training center started its short term training (of 15 -21 days) in different agricultural fields and home economics to farmers drawn from various woredas of South Wollo Zone. Later, due consideration was given for the agriculture sector, and after 1992, trainings were upgraded from 3 to 9 months in which 12 grade completes were the subjects.
In 2002, the training center was upgraded to a college level following the organizational and human resource developments made earlier. By then, trainings were given to development agents (DAs) from Farmer Training Centers (FTCs) in Animal Science, Plant Science and Natural Resource departments. Till then, 2070 male and 337 female which total 2407 DAs were graduated in a middle level diploma program which eventually joined farmers with a better skill and knowledge.
It was late in 2008 that further upgrading DAs at a degree level is strongly believed by the regional BOA. To this effect, an affiliation document was signed among BOA, Wollo University and Kombolcha Agricultural College. Accordingly, based on both human and organizational developments and a remarkable training experience and scaled up technological transformation, the degree level training and education was officially launched in 2009 in 5 departments – Animal Science, Plant Science, Natural Resource, Animal Health and Cooperatives. Thus, 494, 595, 513 and 455 trainees were graduated in the four consecutive batches, respectively. These days, the training is offered in six departments with the newly opened Water Resources and Irrigation Engineering departments, both in regular diploma and degree and evening extension level programs.
Beyond the official education and training, the college is also undertaking various research and practical technical activities in the college owned demonstration sites (Medhanealem and Harbu farms) aimed at transforming technological and practical skills that would serve the surrounding community and the region at large. These demo sites are also generating income supporting the budget deficit to perform further expansion of our activities. Moreover, the college is doing all its best in consulting entrepreneurs coming to invest in the industrial town, Kombolcha in agro-processing and related fields. By and large, Kombolcha Agricultural College can be considered as a sole contributing agent for the betterment of agricultural practices that eventually change the lives of farmers and pastoralists in the region.
