Brief History

The Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension (AEC) was the
product of the creation of States in the year 1996 when the then Enugu State
was bifurcated into Enugu and Ebonyi States respectively. It was then headed
by Prof. J.U. Mgbada with the support of other staff including Prof C.J.C
Akubuilo, among others. They worked assiduously to sustain the academic
standard of the Department amidst the twin challenges of inadequate staffing
and poor funding support. The department of Agricultural Economics and
Extension produces graduates with diverse knowledge in agricultural policy
development, farm management and production, agricultural finance, and
extension. The Department has experienced sustained growth with both
undergraduate and postgraduate programmes over the years till date. Presently,
the Department is being headed by Dr Miriam N. Mgbakor.
Vision: The Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension envisions
the yearly graduation of youths that are empowered to become great
entrepreneurs, industrialists, outstanding professionals and future leaders with
the capacity to lead our nation out of poverty and food insecurity while
achieving a sustainable environmental and agricultural development.

Mission: The Department promotes teaching, research and extension of
agricultural knowledge with respect to agri-business and technology transfer.

Values: The core values of the Department of Agricultural Economics and
Extension are: Diligence, transparency, good human relations, accountability
and professionalism.
The Department produces graduates with broad knowledge of agricultural policy
development and farm management and extension. Agricultural Economics and
Extension department equips the graduates for diverse careers in educational
sector, research institute, banking sector, industries, government and private
establishments. The Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension offers
courses leading to the award of Bachelor degree in Agriculture (B. Agric) at the
end of their five years academic pursuit. Agricultural Economics and Extension
has much to do with the business of farm management concerning the making of
farm business decisions that tend to maximize net income, consistent with the
objectives of the farm operations.

Objectives:
The department’s curriculum tries to satisfy the three domains of curriculum
planning, notably cognitive, effective and sycho-motor domain. Undergraduates of
the programme, will initially be given basic courses in agriculture and later
specialize in Agricultural Economics and Extension. The training will equipe the
students for diverse education and research, banking industry, government and
private enterprise. The student on graduation should be able to:
 establish and manage an agro business;
 serve as an adviser in the setting up and running of co-operative
organization;
 advise on a full time or consultancy basis on the management of scarce
agricultural resources;
 serve as a project evaluator and manager for banks interested in agricultural
programmes;
 serve as an extension officer for the ministry of agriculture.

Academic Programme - Undergraduate

Academic Programmes
The Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension offers two(2) major
academic programmes, namely; Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes
respectively.

Undergraduate Programme:
The Department runs a five(5) year degree programme that prepares
undergraduate students for the award of Bachelor of Agriculture in Agricultural
Economics and Extension. In pursuance of this programme, the Department
promotes activities in the areas of agricultural business management, marketing,
crop and livestock farm management, entrepreneurship and agricultural extension,
among others.

The first year is devoted to basic courses while the second and third years are for
general agriculture. The fourth year is a practical year focused on farm
management practices in model farms while the fifth year is devoted to courses in
Agricultural Economics and Extension.

It is expected that the students on graduation should be able to:
i) Establish and manage agricultural businesses or enterprises.
ii) Serve as advisers to cooperative organizations, commercial farmers and
other agro-business entities.
iii) Undertake consultancy services to both the government and non-
governmental establishments running agro-based and allied businesses.
iv) Provide extension services to Ministries of Agriculture, commercial
farms, oil companies that have private extension networks and other
relevant institutions and private sector establishments.

v) Serve as project evaluators for development agencies and managers for
banking institutions interested in agricultural development and services.

• Agricultural Economics and Extension, BSC
  

Academic Programme- Postgraduate Postgraduate Programmes:
The Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension undertakes Postgraduate
Diploma(PGD), Master of
Science(M.Sc.) and Doctor of Philosophy(Ph.D) degrees respectively with
different admission entry requirements.

There are two (2) broad options in the programme: Agricultural Economics or
Agricultural Extension.

1. Agricultural Economics option, M.Sc. and Ph.D students are required to
specialize in any of the under listed areas:
i) Farm Management and Production Economics.
ii) Agricultural Finance
iii) Agricultural Cooperatives
iv) Environmental and Resource Economics

2. Agricultural Extension option, the available areas of specialization are as follow:
i) Agricultural Extension Administration;
ii) Agricultural Extension Communication;
iii) Agricultural Extension Education;
iv) Rural Sociology and Development.

Research

The underlying Philosophy for the Department of Agricultural Economics and
Extension is in keeping with the underlying principles of the NUC. The department
as an integral part of the faculty of Agriculture and sources management whose
aim is in training young people in various areas of agriculture to acquire broad
knowledge, competences and highly skilled in areas necessary to offer expertise
advice and solution that will accelerate the improvement of food production and its
value-chains through effective policy making, research design and extension
linkages in both public and private sectors of Nigeria.

Staff