Egerton University Department of Agriculture

The Department of Animal Sciences is one of the oldest with the mandate to provide highly trained manpower, equipped with both conceptual knowledge and practical skills geared towards promoting animal health and production within the agricultural sector.

To achieve this, we offer diploma and degree programmes, and tailor-made short courses aimed at improving efficiency in animal production, management and nutrition.

Background:
Mankind has for many years depended on animals, not only for food but also for a variety of by-products and services. Livestock provide all the milk and meat consumed worldwide. In Kenya, like in other developing countries, the livestock sub-sector contributes approximately 10% of the GDP. Although livestock production systems aim at increasing meat and milk to feed the increasing population, they are confronted by a number of constraints, notably diseases and inadequate management.

Welcome to the Crops, Horticulture and Soils (CHS) Department in the Faculty of Agriculture, Egerton University. The office of the chairman appreciates your visit to the departmental web page and interest in our academic, research and outreach, and public-private partnerships. The CHS (formerly Agronomy) Department. The department has mandate of providing quality teaching, training, research, disseminating knowledge, product development, and technology transfer in Agronomy, Horticulture and Soil Sciences. Being the oldest premiere institution of higher education in agriculture, Egerton University has her natural historical home in CHS Department. All the other departments in the Faculty of Agriculture are offsprings of this department. Over the years, CHS has cut a niche in quality agricultural training particularly in agronomy, horticulture and soil sciences to national, regional and global clientele. As a leading department, CHS offers quality courses at diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate (MSc and PhD) levels. Currently the department has one (1) diploma, three (3) undergraduate, twelve (12) MSc and eight (8) PhD programmes. The academic programmes take 3, 4, 2 and 3 years for Diploma, BSc, MSc and PhD respectively. We also have short courses in specialized areas such as: Organic Farming, Tissue Culture, Seed & Applied Plant Propagation Technologies, Integrated Crop Protection, Greenhouse Management, Post Harvest Technology and Marketing of Horticultural Produce, Soil and Plant Analysis, Mushroom Production Technology and any that may be requested by farmers or industry.
As part of our mandate, members of faculty has strong presence in collaborative research and outreach programmes in crop production, post harvest and value addition, breeding for resistance to adversity, adaptation and mitigation to climate change, harnessing indigenous knowledge and technologies, and development of new high yielding crop varieties among other areas of interest. In recent past, the department has released new varieties of field beans and pigeon peas for farmers in moisture stress-prone agro-ecological zones. The department currently has operational collaborative agreements with national and international organizations involved in higher education and research in agricultural sciences.
The department regularly conducts tracer studies to guide the review and development of academic programmes in conformity with ever changing product markets. The department cherishes stakeholder involvement in this noble task of ensuring quality academic programmes are on offer all the times. We are happy to categorically assure our clients that things are getting even better with the current review of academic programmes by the university. We hope you appreciate our efforts and take earliest opportunity to be part of our collaborative training, research, outreach and networking activities.