About University of Agriculture Makurdi

The  University of Agriculture, Makurdi (UAM) was established by the Federal  Government in January 1988. The University was one of the two agricultural universities to pioneer new institutional approaches to the generation and dissemination of new agricultural technologies. It succeeded the Makurdi Campus of the University of Jos (established in 1984) which, in turn, had succeeded the old Federal University of Technology, Makurdi (established 1980).

The locational advantage of UAM derives directly from the agro-ecological importance of the Savannah middle belt in Nigerian agriculture. The ecology of this zone supports extensive arable cropping and livestock production as well as fruit, palm and other economic trees. In particular, the area represents a rich convergence zone for the country's grains, legumes, roots and tubers and tree crop economies that constitute the central pillars of the nation's nutrition. The University is located in Benue State, a State generally acclaimed by objective observers as Nigeria's "Food Basket".

In concept, the University of Agriculture, Makurdi draws from the valuable experiences of similar institutions in other parts of the world. In North America, Asia and Europe, agricultural universities have made tremendous contributions to food and agricultural self reliance, as well as the generation of foreign exchange earnings. These countries include the United States of America, The Netherlands, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Japan, Sweden and Bulgaria to mention a few. In Africa, Cameroon, Tanzania, Kenya and Morocco have also established agricultural universities.

The underlying philosophy is that the average Nigerian farmer should have easy access to the fruits of scientific agriculture. This means that the university scientific community must work on the key practical problems of village farmers. In addition, the students, to become useful and effective extension agents, must be adequately exposed to the discipline of practical farm planning, production and marketing and a period of supervised farming internship arms village level. The basic philosophy then is the democratization and liberalization of scientific agriculture in Nigeria, with small scale farmers in the vanguard.

In general, the objective of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi is to put in place a properly integrated system of teaching, research and extension toward appropriate technology creation, transfer and utilization in Nigerian agriculture. This objective has several specific elements:

1. generating high-yielding crop varieties and livestock breeds as well as other efficient agricultural technologies that are sufficiently adapted and  relevant to local environments;
2. accelerating the diffusion and mass adoption of new technologies on Nigerian farms through effective linkages with state extension services,
3. sensitizing researchers to the pressing needs of farmers, agro-industrialists and consumers with respect to production, processing and utilization technologies;
4. bringing the fruits of science to the farm-gate in the form, amounts and time that farmers need them most;
5. bringing the fruits of science to the doorsteps of agro-industrial establishments in the form, amount and time they are needed most;
6. bringing to the attention of agricultural researcher pressing problems on farmers' fields with minimum delay;
7. training needed manpower that is consistent with the requirements of an integrated national research-extension system; and
8. assisting in substantially raising farm output and incomes of Nigerian farmers as well as marketed quantities of food and fibre. 

The University of Agriculture, Makurdi has eighteen departments in six Colleges . They are:

1. College of Agronomy
2. College of Agricultural Economics and Extension
3. College of Agricultural Engineering and Engineering Technology
4. College of Animal Science and Fisheries
5. College of Food Technology
6. College of Science, Agricultural Science and Science Education. 

For outreach and public service support, the University has established a Co-operative Extension Centre (CEC) and a Centre for Food and Agricultural Strategy (CEFAS) which focus on practical agricultural extension liaison support and public policy support services, respectively.

The philosophy of research at the University of Agriculture, Makurdi stresses research that is issues oriented, mission oriented and problem solving. To achieve this research mission, research is multi-disciplinary, as contrasted with traditional conventional approaches in general universities in which research is mainly along disciplinary lines within academic units. Researchers in the University are encouraged and supported to conduct research that cuts across disciplines and academic units.
The following commodity programmes have been delineated for research and extension activities in the University:

• Root and Tubers programme
• Cereals and Legumes programme
• Forestry and Horticulture programme
• Ruminants programme
• Non- ruminants programme
• Farming systems programme
• Socio-economics programme
• Rural infrastructures programme
• Agricultural Mechanization programme
•  Environmental and Analytical Studies programme and Food Processing and Utilization programme.

These commodity programmes have been organized to effectively address the practical farming problems of the University's immediate catchment area and the nation at large.

Training at the University emphasizes strong foundations in the disciplines, a broad exposure to all disciplines in agriculture, engineering and science and the acquisition of practical skills in the agricultural and engineering fields. Training at this University recognizes that formal acquisition of scientific skills is necessary but not sufficient for preparing our students to live full lives as accomplished, learned members of an increasingly sophisticated Nigerian Society. More fundamentally, students of this University are taught to acquire new mental attitudes that enable them to distinguish between the rational and the irrational, between toughed and the bad. Students are taught to acquire new value systems that appeal to the higher public good that will ensure happiness for all Nigerians and mankind in general, The University will continue to develop its institutional capacity for inculcating new mental attitudes and independent thought systems in students that will promote objectivity and the relentless search for truth and rationality.

Grassroots relevance is a cardinal quest at the University of Agriculture, Makurdi. The Cooperative Extension Centre through its training and extension liaison services coordinates the outreach programmes. The Centre for Food and Agricultural Strategy coordinates the public service support in food and agriculture. The University is forging linkages that will ensure that agricultural technologies and the output of University research reach average small scale Nigerian farmers, the intended beneficiaries of the University's research and extension programmes.

Institutional linkages are being forged with federal and state Ministries of Agriculture and other related agencies to identify areas of collaboration and technical support from the University. The University is already making its presence felt in Benue State through such collaborative programme and protects. Training programmes are being conducted for participants from other states of the federation.

A cardinal element of the strategy in Makurdi is the effective integration of research, teaching and extension by which all academic staff are expected to devote some proportion of their time to each of these activities.

Visit the university's website.