MASTER OF SCIENCE (Msc.), AGRICULTURE SCIENCE AND FARMING MANAGEMENT

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COURSE OUTLINE FOR MASTER OF SCIENCE (Msc.) DIPLOMA IN AGRICULTURE AND FARMING MANAGEMENT

 

MISSION AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAM

The mission of the Master of Science (Msc.) in Agriculture and Farming Management degree program is to enhance the career trajectory of agricultural professionals, practitioners, and educators by improving their ability to apply new and emerging scientific findings and technologies to the advancement and expansion of their disciplines through:

Successful completion of high quality courses designed to support expertise expansion in targeted areas or disciplines;

Participation in an immersion-based, high quality research experience;

Opportunities to disseminate knowledge through participation in and/or development of extension programs or media.

The degree program is primarily designed to support the educational advancement of place bound, time bound students in a distance learning course delivery format; however, students on our e-campus also may access the degree program.

The overall goal of the program is to prepare high level graduates for professional, practitioner, and educator opportunities in agriculture, so that they may provide leadership and disseminate knowledge to an increasingly complex society.

 

Msc. in Agriculture and Farming Management Program Objectives:

  1. To prepare students to become experts in professional fields related to agriculture and farming.

  2. To prepare students to become outstanding educators or practitioners in agricultural disciplines.

  3. To prepare students to become outstanding leaders and team players in collaborative and interdisciplinary application of their expertise to address local, regional, national and/or global problems associated with agriculture.

  4. To provide students with an experiential-based research opportunity designed to translate content provided in coursework to reality.

  5. To both enhance the visibility and impact of graduate programs in agricultural sciences and provide students with a pathway for manifesting their career objectives.

 

Plant Health Management (PHM): To meet an expanding demand for plant health management specialists to promote food security and food safety on a global scale, the PHM option is designed to provide students with a foundational understanding of the essential components of plant protection through courses in the plant health management core, as well as a basic understanding of market aspects of the business through courses in the management core.

Student Learning Outcomes

 Objective 1.  To prepare students to become experts in professional fields related to agriculture.  Students will:

  1. Expand breadth of knowledge and expertise in agricultural disciplines and closely related fields.

  2. Increase depth of knowledge and expertise in agriculture as related to the student’s professional goals.

  3. Enhance ability to adapt to emerging changes in technology, economics, societal influences, and communication that have a dramatic impact on the agricultural industry.

 

Objective 2.  To prepare students to become outstanding educators or practitioners in agricultural disciplines.  Students will:

 

  1. Develop critical thinking skills and ability to assess and comprehend societal problems, stakeholder concerns and scientific questions that formulate major issues to be addressed through applied and/or basic research.

  2. Develop scientific literacy by independently assessing, interpreting, and summarizing literature and other sources of knowledge on the research topic.

 

  1. Develop research objectives and hypotheses through the use of logic and critical thinking.

  2. Propose, evaluate or execute experimental protocol regarding stated hypothesis.

  3. Collect, summarize, and interpret research data.

  4. Effectively communicate at different levels the results of research in written, graphic, and verbal modes.

 

Objective 3.  To prepare students to become outstanding leaders and team players in collaborative and interdisciplinary application of their expertise to address local, regional, national and/or global problems associated with agriculture.  Students will:

  1. Acquire advanced knowledge and skills necessary to function as an effective leader, manager, or team player.

  2. Identify, assess and address the interactions among the many issues associated with agriculture and society at large.

  3. Foster commitment to ethical behavior and appreciation for diversity, global cultures, traditions and perspectives.

 

Objective 4.  To provide students with an experiential-based research opportunity designed to translate content provided in coursework to reality

Objective 5.  To both enhance the visibility and impact of graduate programs in agricultural sciences and provide students with a pathway for manifesting their career objectives.  The program will:

  1. Increase the number and diversity of high quality applicants and students in the program.

  2. Strengthen the college’s role in distance delivery by expanding access.

  3. Place more our university graduates in lead positions within agricultural related fields.

 

Week 1

  • Aquaculture methods and practices: a selective review

  • Historical perspective

  • Overview of aquaculture methods and practices

  • Fish pond culture

  • Integrated fish farming

  • Pen and cage culture

  • Open water culture

Week 2

  • Aquatic site selection

  • Pond layout

  • Design of pond facilities

  • Typical cross section dikes

  • Pond management

  • Pond preparation

  • Stacking

  • Feeding

  • Water management

  • Pond maintenance

Week 3

  • More on integrated fish farming

  • Pen and cage culture

  • Culture species

  • Site selection

  • Design and construction

Week 4

  • Animal husbandry

  • What is animal husbandry

  • History of animal husbandry

  • Neolilhic revolution and domestication of animals

  • Ancient civilization

  • Medieval husbandry

Week 5

  • Animal feeding

  • Cattle feed pallets of pressed linseed

  • Animal breeding

  • Artificial insemination

Week 6

  • Animal health

  • Veterinary medicine

  • Familiar livestock

  • Range of species

  • Animal products

  • The concept of livestock farming with care

Week 7

  • Dairy farming

  • Poultry farming

  • Insects

  • Beekeeping, entomophagy and seviculture

  • Livestock and environmental impact

  • Animal welfare

Week 8

  • Agricultural marketing

  • Who employs agricultural marketing

  • Agricultural marketing techniques

  • Concept and definition

  • Scope and subject matter

  • New role of agricultural marketing

  • Importance of agricultural marketing

  • The foodgram marketing system

Week 9

  • Food processing, preservation and storage for economic development (the Nigeria case study)

  • Introduction

  • Economic development

  • Agriculture processing

  • Processing machines and equipment

  • Processing of common Nigerian crops: cassava, rice, oil palm, groundnut, yam, soybean, oil bearing seeds and processing of fruits and vegetables.

Week 10

  • Processing of livestock, fish and food items

  • Poultry production and processing

  • Mushroom production and processing

  • Fish production and processing

  • Snail production and processing

 

Week 11

  • Food preservation and storage

  • Preservation of fruits and vegetables

  • Storage techniques

  • Biotechnology

Week 12

  • Challenges of agricultural production

  • Challenges of agro-processing

  • Challenges of processing and storage technologies

  • Brief information on agricultural engineering

Week 13

  • Agriculture economics

  • Introduction to agric economics

  • The paradox of plenty

  • Pareto optimality

  • Principle of agriculture and resource economics

Week 14

  • Agriculture extension

  • Overview of extension education

  • Extension education defined

  • Objective of extension education

  • The difference between formal education and extension education

  • Why extension

  • Why study extension

Week 15

  • Historical antecedents of extension education

  • Objective of extension education

  • Historical perspective of agricultural extension in the world

  • Historical perspective of agricultural extension in Ghana

Week 16

  • Communication in agriculture extension

  • Objective

  • Communication process

  • The meaning of communication

  • Communication defined

  • Element of communication process

  • Models of communication

  • Why does communication happen

Week 17

  • Skills needed in communication

  • Objective

  • Sending effective message

  • Effective listening

  • Using feedback

  • Barriers to communication

  • Emotional interference

Week 18

  • Introduction to behavior change communication

  • Self-efficacy

  • Theory of reasoned action

  • Theory of planned behavior

  • Behavior change communication

  • Design BCC program

Week 19

  • Teaching and learning in extension

  • What is extension teaching

  • The concept of teaching

  • Steps to extension teaching

  • Motivation in extension teaching

  • Learning in extension

  • General principle of adult learning

  • Learning theories

  • The law of effect

  • Experiential learning

Week 20

  • Agricultural extension technology

  • Individual extension teaching method

  • Group extension teaching method

  • Mass method of extension teaching

Week 21

  • Reliable financial grants, foundations and donor agencies for agricultural projects you can contact rights away for beginners and development

  • They are looking for project to finance.

GOOD LUCK