Faculty of Agriculture

The Faculty of Agriculture

Welcome Note

You are welcome to the Faculty of Agriculture, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria. The faculty has four departments: the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services, the Department of Animal Production, the Department of Crop Production, and the Department of Food Science and Technology. The faculty offers a broad-based programme leading to the award of the Bachelor of Agriculture (B. Agric.) degree with a specialization in the final year in any of the following options: Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Extension, Crop Production, Crop Protection, and Animal Production. It also offers a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Food Science and Technology.

The B. Agriculture and B. Sc. (Food Science and Technology) degrees have full accreditation status by the National Universities Commission (NUC). Both the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Crop Production and Animal Production also have full accreditation status. Currently, there are about 35 staff and over 1,000 undergraduate students, and scores of postgraduate students in the faculty, across the four departments.

The faculty has a Teaching and Research farm sitting on about 100 hectares of land that serves as a field laboratory for students’ training, staff research, and demonstration for farmers. The faculty has collaboration and linkages with national research institutes and agricultural development agencies like the Lower River Niger Basin Development Authority (LRNBDA), Agricultural Research and Management Training Institute (ARMTI), National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and the Ministry of Agriculture, among others.

Brief History of the Faculty

The present Faculty of Agriculture, which started as a College of Agriculture, is as old as the University. It was established as one of the foundation Colleges of the University at the inception of the University in November 2009. The College, which started with seven academic staff and 16 students, had Professor Funsho Oluleye as the Pioneer Provost, with 3 Departments namely: Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services, Department of Animal Production, and Department of Crop Production. The faculty system was adopted in 2020 across the university, to replace the former collegiate system. Former Provosts of the then College of Agriculture were Professor Funsho Oluleye, Professor Olawale Moshood Aliyu, and Prof. Stephen Kayode Subair, currently as the Dean. The Department of Food Science and Technology started in the College of Engineering and Technology as a part of the Department of Food, Agriculture and Bioengineering (FAB) in 2011. It was recently separated from FAB and moved to the College of Agriculture.

Departments/Units:

Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services

Site Visits – Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services

Department of Animal Production, Fisheries and Acquaculture

Site Visits – Department of Animal Production, Fisheries and Acquaculture

Department of Crop Production

Site Visits – Department of Crop Production

Department of Food Science and Technology

Site Visits – Department of Food Science and Technology

Mission/Vision/Goals

The faculty vision seeks to produce competent middle and high-level manpower who can be job creators by setting up agricultural enterprises all over the country and also be available for teaching, research, and technology development in the higher institutions in Nigeria and the world, thereby meeting the KWASU’s overall goal of being a World-Class University.

Programmes/Activities

Programmes that are available in the faculty are under these departments as follows:

Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services

B. Agric. Agricultural Economics
B. Agric. Agricultural Extension

Department of Animal Production

B. Agric. Animal Production

Department of Crop Production

B. Agric. Crop Production
B. Agric. Crop Protection

Department of Food Science and Technology

B.Sc. Food Science and Technology

Postgraduate M.Sc.

M.Sc. Agricultural Economics and Farm Management
M.Sc. Agricultural Extension and Rural Development
M.Sc. Agricultural Crop Production and Animal Production

Postgraduate Ph.D.

Ph.D. Agricultural Economics and Farm Management
Ph.D. Agricultural Extension and Rural Development
Ph.D. Crop Production and Animal Production

Research

Several research activities are ongoing in the faculty of Agriculture, some of which are listed below:

Functional Food Processing, Process engineering, and Food Preservation Technology
Food product development, consumer studies/product acceptability, storage stability/shelf-life studies, food characterization and formulations, and suitability of different crops variety for food products, among others
Lipids studies in Nigerian diets with respect to health and diseases.
Studies on fermentation and food safety/food biotechnology
Studies on food processing, preservation, product development and value addition
Solid State Fermentation of non-conventional feedstuffs for enhanced pig production.
Artificial Insemination of indigenous breeds of cattle to enhance Meat production.
Silage production for small ruminants.
Phytobiotics feed additives in enhancing fish production.

Achievements/Milestones/Plans

The faculty has recorded several laudable achievements and milestones since its inception. Some of these are listed below:

Winning several Tertiary Trust Fund (TETFUND) Institution Based Research (IBR) grants across departments in the faculty.
Winning TETFUND National Research Fund (NRF) grant by a staff of the faculty.
Full accreditation of all the programmes of the faculty.
Two academic staff in the faculty won the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Meritorious Research Award on standardization of food recipes and portion sizes of locally available diets in 2023.
Two academic staff in the department have collaborated with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture on some research projects.
Graduated several first-class students across the departments of the faculty, and hundreds of honors degree graduates.
Upholding the mantra of Kwara State University as a green university for community development and entrepreneurship
Several staff in the faculty have conducted scores of community development project in several communities across Kwara state.

Staff Profile for Each Staff of the Faculty

Professor/Dean of Faculty

Prof. Stephen Kayode Subair

E-mail Address: stephen.subair@kwasu.edu.ng / ssksubair@gmail.com
Phone Number: Not Available For Now
Research Interest/Specialisation:Agricultural Extension and Rural Development
Educational Qualification:

Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Ph.D.) Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Ibadan, 1991
Master of Science (M.Sc.) Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Ibadan, 1984
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc. Hons.) Agriculture (University of the Philippines, Los Banos), 1981
Diploma Certificate in Agriculture: University of Ife Nigeria (IAR&T), 1975

Membership of Professional Bodies:

i. Member, South African Society of Agricultural Extension

Faculty of Agriculture