Brief profile of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State

The University of Agriculture Makurdi (UAM) located in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria, was established in 1988. It is charged with the task of pioneering innovative institutional arrangements in the liberalisation of access to scientific agriculture and high yielding agricultural technologies by the generality of the farming population and thus contribute to economic growth and food security.  UAM went through various developmental progressions in response to the emerging challenges in fulfilling its mission and mandate.

Mission: To develop the human mind to be creative, innovative, research oriented, competent in areas of specialisation, knowledgeable in entrepreneurship and dedicated to service, hence the UAM logo ‘Innovation and Service’.

Mandate: To promote human resource development in agriculture, science, engineering and technology through the functional integration of teaching, research and extension.

Vision: To become a major institutional player in the process of strengthening both the capacity of Nigeria and Africa for training, research and development for purposeful utilisation of agricultural and related systems.

Administrative arrangements:
In order to assure efficient co-ordination in both the vertical and lateral relationships of the organs of the University, the University adopted the Directorate and Collegiate systems with built in Outreach, Specialists Centres and Service Units.

Directorates, Outreach and Specialist Centres and Service units:

Academic: Directorates of Academic Planning; Research and Development;
Teaching and Research Farms; Veterinary Teaching Hospital; Institute of Food
Security; Cooperative Extension Centre; Seed Technology Centre; Centre for Agro-chemical Technology; Linkages; University Library.

Services: Directorates of Physical Planning; Works and Maintenance; Special
Projects; University Health Services; Alumni Services; Consultancy Services;
Internal Audit; Information Communication Technology Centre; Sports, Security
Services; Student Affairs; Information, Publicity Protocol and Public Relations;
and, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development.

Academic programmes and degrees

UAM operates a collegiate system made up of nine colleges and 36 departments which offer Bachelors, Post graduate Diplomas (PGD) and higher degrees as follows:

College of Agronomy: Departments of Crop Production; Crop and Environmental Protection; Plant Breeding and Seed Science; and, Soil Science (B. Agric., PGD., M.Sc., Ph.D).
College of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Management Technology: Departments of Agricultural Economics; Agricultural Extension and Communication; and, Agricultural Management (B.Agric., PGD., M.Sc., MBA., MPA., Ph.D).
College of Animal Science: Departments of Animal Production; Animal Breeding and Physiology; and, Animal Nutrition (B. Agric., PGD., M.Sc., Ph.D).
College of Forestry and Fisheries: Departments of Fisheries and Aquaculture; Forest Production and Products; Social and Environmental Forestry; and, Wild Life and Range Management (B. Fish; B. Forestry; PGD., M.Sc., Ph.D).
College of Food Technology: Departments of Food Science and Technology; and, Home Science and Management (B.Sc., PGD., M.Sc., Ph.D).
College of Engineering: Departments of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering; Civil Engineering; Electrical and electronics Engineering; and, Mechanical Engineering (B. Eng., PGD., M. Eng., Ph.D).
College of Agricultural and Science Education: Departments of Agricultural Education; Science Education; and, Educational Foundation and General Studies (B. Ed. Agric., B.Sc. Ed., PGDE., M. Ed., Ph.D).
College of Science: Departments of Biological Sciences; Chemistry; Physics; and, Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Science (B.Sc., PGD., M.Sc., Ph.D).
College of Veterinary Medicine: Departments of Veterinary Anatomy; Veterinary Physiology; Pharmacology and Biochemistry; Veterinary Parasitology and entomology; Animal Health and Production; Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology; Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine; Veterinary Medicine; Veterinary Surgery and Theriogenology; and, Veterinary Teaching Hospital (DVM).
The Postgraduate School: Co-ordinates all the Diploma and Higher Degree Programmes.

Research and development (R&D) programmes

Commodity-based programmes: R&D programmes at UAM are issues and mission oriented, farmer/agro-industry driven and utilise the multidisciplinary inputs from 39 Commodity/discipline-based programmes in extension, farming systems, arable and horticultural crops, ruminants and non-ruminants, animal breeding, feed resources, rural infrastructure, mechanization, product transformation, food engineering, clothing and textiles, forestry production, environment and climate change, fisheries, wildlife and range management, natural and applied sciences, agricultural and science education, biotechnology, bio-resource management, animal drugs, seed research and molecular biology.

Institute of Food Security (IFS): The IFS serves as the resource mobilisation, development and capacity building strategy for a sustainable road map on national and global food security issues. It runs six programmes, namely, strategy and governance; knowledge and innovation; technology and environment; markets and institution; food and nutrition; and, biotechnology and farm fealth.

UAM maintains collaborative and partnership arrangements with overseas universities, international and national agricultural research systems and agencies, federal and state governments.
At 22, UAM continues to generate the human resources needed to support national economic growth through functional integration of teaching, research and extension.