Agricultural Engineering in Nigeria

The Department of Agricultural Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University is part of the Faculty of Technology, which comprises nine departments with staff strength of over 100 academics. The department collaborates closely in teaching and research with other departments in the Faculty and with the Faculty of Agriculture. On the whole, the department teaches two faculty courses in the Faculty of technology and services seven courses in the Faculty of Agriculture. The department has workshop and laboratory facilities, which have helped to establish it as a foremost department of agricultural engineering in Nigeria. Facilities for field experimentation and testing of agricultural implements exist at the University’s Teaching and Research Farm, which is also on campus.

The department is one of the five pioneer departments of the Faculty established in 1970. Undergraduate teaching commenced immediately, under a five-year B.Sc. programme, while the postgraduate programme leading to either M.Sc. or Ph.D degrees was added in 1979. The foundation staffs of the department were employed in the Department of Plant Science (Faculty of Agriculture) until the creation of the Faculty of Technology.

The department has close links with farmers, governmental and private agricultural establishments, agricultural and industrial research institutions, industry and fellow institutions. Our students normally undergo a total period of 6 months industrial training in these establishments during long vacations. This has enabled staff and students to keep abreast of current developments in agricultural engineering both in Nigeria and abroad. The department is in the process of strengthening its computing and computer-aided learning facilities as well as capabilities in microelectronics studies. This is to enable the programmes give the students the required familiarity with a range of computer and microprocessor based techniques which are now essential for the modern agricultural engineer.