Profile

The School of Agriculture and Biotechnology (SAGR) is one of the premier schools at the university of Eldoret renown for being among the topmost in delivering academics programs, agricultural research, innovation and extension services. The school offers competitive agricultural-based courses tailor-made to satisfy the growing market demand in agriculture. These programs are offered at various levels as short courses and certificates, Diploma, Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate. It hosts six functional departments that include; Seed, Crop and Horticultural Sciences (SCHS), Animal Science, Family and Consumer Sciences, Soil Science, Biotechnology, and Agricultural Economics & Rural Development. The departments have come a long way since its inception in expanding and strengthening its programs with the latter being recently constituted to address the rising demand in agricultural socioeconomic, agribusiness and rural extension. A total of 7 short-courses, 4 certificate, 10 diplomas, 1 post-graduate diploma, 12 bachelors, 14 masters and 9 doctorate programs are offered in the school. New programs have been constituted and are in the pipeline for approval by the senate. These include; Ph D program in Community Nutrition, M Sc. in Agriculture and Gender, B Sc in Agricultural Information System and B Sc in agricultural community development.
The School is involved in a number of research activities and extension services through collaborations with government, non-governmental research institutions and private service providers to test and deliver cutting edge technologies and products to the farming communities. These collaborations have seen a number of MoUs signed between the partners and the university which has enabled the school achieve invaluable benefits rippling from improved infrastructure (laboratory and equipment), awarding of M Sc. and P hD graduate scholarships and securing greater networks for undergraduate student industrial attachments. In a bid to address the emerging issues, the school has continually embraced multi-disciplinary research approaches through strengthening linkages within and outside the school that has yielded remarkable output and outcomes. To foster capacity building of the community, the school had organized a number of workshops and trainings to communicate findings and demonstrate new technologies.
Department of Animal Science
Department of Biotechnology
Department of Soil Science
Department of Seed, Crop and Horticultural Sciences
Department of Family and Consumer Services
Department of Agricultural Economics
Current projects in the school
- AGRA, funded research in Soil health
- USDA-SANREM, funded research in Conservation Agricultural Practice System (CAPS)
- USDA-NIFA, funded research in internationalization of soil and crop curricula
- RUFORUM, funded research on Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF)
- NACOSTI Funded research
- Rock Phosphate and
- Iron status among infants aged six to nine months in Keiyo South District
- Effect of Soybean complemented porridges on the nutritional status of school children 3-6 years in Bungoma County, Western Kenya
- Post-harvest handling and value addition of African indigenous vegetables in Western Kenya
- French bean and Dolichos Lablab Breeding program funded by Kirk House Trust, leading to release of various commercial varieties
- Evaluation of Nutritional Quality, Physicochemical Properties and Sensory Attributes of Four Soybean Varieties Grown in Western Kenya
- Development of a fermented Soy fortified maize meal snack to alleviate Protein Energy Malnutrition in School going children at University of Eldoret Primary school.
Students’ research projects
School of agriculture has a dedicated team of experienced scholars who takes time to offer constructive mentoring and supervision towards students’ special research project both for postgraduate and undergraduates. In this respect, efforts have been done by the school to streamline presentations and sharing of knowledge through seminars, regular defenses that is attended by experts and presentation of students’ project work.
For instance, the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences organizes a regular annual exhibition where fourth year students showcase their special projects and products to the public.
Family and Consumer Sciences Open Day 5th May