History
Inception of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ghana, Legon
The Faculty of Agriculture was established in 1959 with four (4) Departments namely: (i) Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management consisting of the Agricultural Economics Division, the Agricultural Engineering Division and the Agricultural Extension Division; (ii) Department of Animal Science (iii) Department of Crop Husbandry and Horticulture consisting of a Soil Division and a Crops Division and (iv) Department of Home Science.
The four Departments were headed by the following persons:
Prof. S. La- Anyane Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management
Prof. A. H. Wilson Department of Animal Science
Dr. Virginia Cutler Department of Home Science
Dr. K. A. Haizel Department of Crop Husbandry and Horticulture
Dr. S. Sinnadurai Department of Crop Husbandry and Horticulture
Dr. E.V. Doku Department of Crop Husbandry and Horticulture
The initial programme run at the Faculty of Agriculture was a three-year BSc General Agriculture programme, a two-year National Diploma programme in Agriculture and a one-year Special Diploma programme in Agriculture. About four years later, a four-year BSc Agriculture programme with specialization in Animal, Crop or Soil Science replaced the General Agriculture programme. By the early 1970s, MSc. Programmes were introduced and run, offered in the Departments/Divisions of Animal Science, Soil Science and Crop Science.
Alongside the teaching departments, three agricultural research stations also carried out research and offered research facilities to staff and students of the Faculty of Agriculture. The Agricultural Research Station, Kade, Eastern Region, was established in 1957 with a grant from the Cocoa Marketing Board to conduct research into methods of cultivation of tropical and subtropical perennial crops. The Agricultural Research Station, Kpong, Eastern Region was established in 1954 by the Ministry of Agriculture of the then Gold Coast, with assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. The Station offered research facilities in mechanized irrigation agriculture on the Accra Plains.
The Agricultural Research Station at Nungua was established in 1953 and specialized in livestock and poultry research and production and integration of crops for the development of ecologically sustainable production packages for farmers. These research stations also offered practical short training courses for all categories of people. Undergraduates at the Faculty of Agriculture visited the stations on study tours and postgraduate students in Agriculture also conducted their research activities at these stations.
The first Officers-in-charge of the Research Stations were as follows:
Dr. F. Pospisil (Ex-patriate), Dr. Akwasi Adu Gyamfi Opoku (first Ghanaian) - Agricultural Research Station, Kade
Mr. E.J.A. Khan (Expatriate), Mr. A.N. Aryeetey (first Ghanaian) - Agricultural Research Station, Kpong
Mr. Peter Hills (Farm Manager), Dr. Frantisek Vohardksy (Officer-in-charge) – Agricultural Research Station, Nungua.
In 1976, the Agricultural Extension division was hived off the department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management and became a fully-fledged department headed by Mr. Eugene Bortei-Doku. The Soil Science and Crop Science divisions also became two separate Departments in 1982. The Agricultural Engineering division was the last to become a fully-fledged Department.
Over the years, the Faculty of Agriculture grew from four departments to six departments/units, and saw a significant increase in number of teaching staff, students as well as number and types of programmes offered at the various departments. The following are a list of Deans of the faculty from its inception to 2004 when its structure changed into a School.
List of Deans
- Prof. J.F.V. Philips - 1959-1960
- Prof. A.S.B. Wilson - 1960-1965
- Prof. G. Stoces - 1965-1966
- Prof. S. La-Anyane - 1966-1973
- Prof. D.K. Acquaye - 1973-1975
- Prof. E. N. W. Oppong - 1975-1978
- Prof. E. J. Thompson - 1978-1981
- Prof. E. V. Doku - 1981-1986
- Prof. D.K. Acquaye - 1986-1990
- Prof. B. K. Ahunu - 1990-1996
- Prof. F. K. Fianu - 1996-1999
- Prof. B. K. Ahunu- 1999-2002
- Prof. A. R. Barnes - 2002-2005
From Faculty of Agriculture to College of Agriculture and Consumer Science
In 2004, the Faculty of Agriculture was transformed into a College and with the renaming of the Department of Home Science as the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. The College was named as the College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences (CACS). A Central Administration was set up together with the Office of the Provost, the College Registrar and a College Finance officer.
Prof. Anna R. Barnes was appointed Acting Provost of the College from 2005-2006 until Prof. Benjamin K. Ahunu was appointed as the substantive Provost in May 2006. The mission of CACS was to provide a world class academic environment through quality teaching, research and extension, integrating system-wide innovations to realize tangible results.
The College set up the School of Agriculture which comprised the teaching departments of the Faculty of Agriculture and the Institute of Agricultural Research which comprised the three research stations. Other components of the Colleges included the Biotechnology Centre and the West African Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI). Meanwhile, the College was working to set up the School of Veterinary Medicine which later came into fruition in 2009. CACS thus, became the first College on the Main University Campus and had its own College Council, semi- autonomous Financial Administration and its Appointments and Promotions Board which dealt with non-professorial appointments.
The following were the various departments/units of the College.
School of Agriculture
- Department of Animal Science
- Department of Crop Science
- Department of Soil Science
- Department of Agricultural Extension
- Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
- Department of Family and Consumer Science
School of Veterinary Medicine
- Basic Veterinary Sciences
- Para-Clinical courses
- Clinical Veterinary Medicine
Centre
- West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI)
- Biotechnology Centre
Institute of Agricultural Research
The Institute was launched during the Home coming event of the University of Ghana between November 14-18, 2011. The three Centres were then re-named as follows:
- Agricultural Research Centre, Kpong was re-named Soil and Irrigation Research Centre (SIREC)
- Agricultural Research Centre, Legon was re-named Livestock and Poultry Research Centre (LIPREC)
- Agricultural Research Station, Kade, was re-named Forest and Horticultural Crops Research (FOHCREC).
SIREC covers a total land area of 1024 hectares and is located 3km off the main Accra-Akosombo highway. It conducts research into mechanized irrigated agriculture on the vertisols and other soils in the Accra plains. The Centre also undertakes research into the cultivation of fruits such as mango, sugar cane, maize, soybean, cowpea and vegetables and engages in beef cattle and sheep rearing, semi-commercial scale rice cultivation and cage fish aqua culture to generate additional income.
The Livestock and Poultry Research Centre (LIPREC) conducts research to enhance sustainable and profitable production of livestock and poultry in Ghana. Its vision is to be a Centre of excellence for research and training of students, agricultural professionals and farmers to solve the problems of livestock and poultry production in Ghana. The Centre’s mission is to conduct research into livestock and poultry for the advancement of Ghana’s agriculture and to offer practical training to students, agricultural professionals and farmers for cost-effective and sustainable livestock production.
FOHCREC covers a total land area of 1090 hectares in Kade in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The Centre conducts research on the production, multiplication, protection and marketing of forest and horticultural crops. These crops include, plantain, cocoyam, citrus, rubber, avocado, cocoa, mango, cola, oil palm, rambutan, root and tuber crops.
Below are some principal officers of the College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences and other administrative officers.
Provosts
Prof. A. R. Barnes (Acting) 2005-2006
Prof. B.K. Ahunu 2006-2011
Prof. S. K. Offei 2011-2013
Directors (Institute of Agricultural Research)
Prof. K. Afreh Nuamah (Acting) 2005-2006
Dr. F. Ofori 2006-2009
Prof. K. Afreh-Nuamah 2009-2012
Prof. M. Yangyouru 2012-2014
Deans of School of Agriculture
Prof. D. Obeng-Ofori 2005-2006
Prof. S. K. Offei 2006-2011
Prof. J. Ofosu Anim 2011-2016
Prof. Daniel Bruce Sarpong 2016-2021
Deans of School of Veterinary Medicine
Prof. K. G. Aning 2009-2014
Prof. P. K. Turkson 2014-2021
College Registrars
Mr. M. F. Ribeiro (Ag) 2005-2007
Mrs. G. Aboagye-Mensah (Ag) 2007-2008
Mr. J.M. Budu 2008-2009
Mr. E. Baidoo (Ag) 2009-2010
Mr. P. B. Yarquah 2010-2013
Mr. E. Baidoo (Interim) 2013-2014
Mr. E. Baidoo 2014-Present
Some significant developments/key events at the College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences were:
1. In June 2007, the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI), was established with funding from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and started offering PhD programmes in Plant breeding through a partnership between the University of Ghana and Cornell University.
2. The Biotechnology Research Centre was established in 2007 and developed Masters and PhD programmes in Biotechnology for students in Ghana and the Sub-region.
3. The School of Veterinary Medicine was established in August 2009 to meet a dire need to train veterinarians locally. It admitted its first batch of 10 students in the same year.
4. The Green house of the Department of Crop Science was built in 2009 with funds from the University of Ghana through the Turnkey Project.
5. The Cage fish farming was started in 2010 for commercial fish farming at SIREC
6. The Small Animal Clinic was established for clinicals in Veterinary Medicine in September 2015.
7. The Department of Crop Science’s Hydroponics and Soilless Project in the Sinna Garden started its operation. This involved the use of industrial waste materials for compost and use as growing medium for all kinds of vegetables.
8. The Forest and Horticulture Research Centre was selected as a demonstration Centre under the Export and Quality Awareness Project (EMQAP) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
From College of Agriculture and Consumer Science to School of Agriculture
The University of Ghana subsequently adopted a decentralized system of administration and fully migrated onto the Collegiate system at the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic year. Together with other science faculties, the then College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences was incorporated into the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, leaving its former constituents as Schools or Centres under the new College of Basic and Applied Sciences, i.e. School of Agriculture, School of Veterinary Medicine.
Two (2) other new Colleges were created: College of Humanities and College of Education to add to the already existing College of Health Sciences, whose structure was modified to suit the new collegiate system of governance, making a total of four Colleges in the University.
The School of Agriculture continues to offer programmes leading to the award of MSc/MPhil./ M.Agric and PhD in all disciplines as well as BSc. (Agriculture) degree with majors in the following areas:
- Agricultural Economics
- Agribusiness
- Agricultural Extension
- Animal Science
- Aquaculture
- Crop Science
- Horticulture
- Postharvest Technology
- Soil Science
- Foods and Clothing
- Family and Child Studies
Although the School of Agriculture has been quite amorphous, i.e. taking a different form at different times, it has remained as one of the specialized entities in the University of Ghana, impacting national agricultural development through quality teaching, research and extension, and integrating system-wide innovations to realize tangible and practical results.
PARTNERSHIPS/ COLLABORATION WITH EXTERNAL ORGANIZATIONS/ UNIVERSITIES
- University of Tokyo (Agric. Technology) STEP-TUAT
- Agricultural School (China)
- Hubei University (China)
- International University of Japan
- University of Wageningen, Netherlands
- University of Malta
- Audencia Business School (France)
- AP. OAK Foundation
- University of Guelph