Agriculture and Science

Dr Ntuthuko R Mkhize is a Senior Lecturer in Animal Science in the School of Agriculture and Science at UKZN, where he teaches ruminant production and animal health. His expertise spans ruminant (sheep, goats, dairy, and beef) production, feeding ecology, rangeland ecology, and forage science, with research focused on improving animal production, health, and welfare while sustaining the natural landscapes that we inhabit. Ntuthuko began his career in 2006 as an Agricultural Scientist in the KZN Department of Agriculture and later (2008) spent 15 years as a Senior Researcher at the ARC–Animal Production campus before joining UKZN in 2023. By December 2025, Dr Mkhize had published just over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and delivered more than 50 conference presentations locally and internationally. In the same period, he had successfully supervised 11 Master’s and 5 PhD students to completion. Ntuthuko is an active member of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA), and has served as its President (2024/25) and as a Council Member since 2019, and he has also been a member of the South African Society of Animal Science (SASAS) since 2010. Dr Mkhize maintains that “Animal Science is not only about animals, but also about people, food, and the environment we share.”