"Under-delivery" of the programme was described as "a material issue" for the centre, as it returned 23 per cent of the centre's funding, the report said.
Many students had done this course in their second year, in conjunction with the National Certificate in Agriculture.
Others were in employment and attended from one to three one-day "courses" arranged by their employers - sometimes for specific health and safety requirements.
"It is our view that the majority of the students enrolled on this programme did not intend to undertake a 416 learning hours programme of study," the report said.
"Instead, their impression was that they were undertaking training in the form of one or multiple one-day courses.
"At least 30 per cent of the students we interviewed said that they were not aware of the GFS qualification [and] that they had no intention of completing it."
Based on their interviews, the report writers estimated that 80 per cent of students had completed less than a fifth of the learning hours they were required to complete.
Just under half the students (48 per cent) had completed less than one tenth, and 91 per cent had completed less than half the required hours.
Taratahi had disputed these figures, but provided no evidence to the contrary, according to the report.
Other issues identified by the report:
- Tertiary providers need permission from the Tertiary Education Commission to exceed 1200 hours in a course of study. However, Taratahi first-year students totalled 2416 learning hours in their two concurrent courses - the Taratahi Certificate in Agriculture and the National Certificate in Farming Skills. The report found these hours were being delivered.
- Special courses such as National Certificate Fencing, Levels 3 and 4, and the Certificate in Rural Leadership, had delivered only 25, 29 and 24 per cent, respectively, of the required learning hours.
