Agricultural Engineering applies basic scientific principles to the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of machines and equipment as well as the design, construction, use and maintenance of structures needed in the field of agriculture. Its applications are clearly verified in the following areas:

• Design and manufacture, maintenance and repairs of equipment and machinery used in agricultural farmland preparation, planting of crops, irrigation of farmlands, inter-cultivation practices, harvesting and processing of agricultural produce.
• Soil and water engineering which includes agricultural meteorology, soil and water management, irrigation and drainage.
• Post harvest engineering, which covers agricultural produce, storage, processing, handling, packaging and transport. Controlled Atmosphere (CA) in handling horticultural produce for Local and International markets.
• Environmental control and farm structures as well as Rural Engineering, Agro-Energy Systems and utilization and agricultural by-products management, rural sociology and extension education.
• Entrepreneurship, idea generation, feasibility study, business plan development and execution.

The indication is that the agricultural sector will only become fully productive and sustain productivity if the above agricultural engineering services are functional. Incidentally, agriculture is the largest industry in Ghana, currently employing a high percentage of the population and contributing to over 70% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If the National G.D.P. is to increase then this sector will, necessarily, have to become more efficient and more productive.

The importance of agriculture in the national economy, in terms of income and employment, is well accepted.

The urgent need for more highly skillful and knowledgeable professionals who are practically and technically competent in the agricultural engineering field cannot be over-emphasised. The training, in order to achieve its goal is programmed to deepen the practical orientation of the graduates and provide them with advanced technical knowledge and skills as well as offer them a more logical avenue for academic progression.

The graduates will therefore be more relevant to the needs of the Agriculture industry and will be equipped with the required workplace and professional skills, which would, as a result, reduce graduate unemployment and increase economic productivity.

Goal

The Agricultural Engineering programme is to provide a specialized education and training, in the engineering sciences and their applications in the field of agriculture that will enable graduates to meet the industrial challenges of the agricultural engineering profession in a rapidly changing environment such as exists in a developing country like Ghana. These challenges require the ability to apply existing knowledge in new ways thereby creating new systems and opportunities as well as adopting existing technology to local production conditions.

Objectives

At the end of the programme, the successful Agricultural Engineering graduate should be able to;

• Design, manufacture and assemble components and systems for use in the agricultural and allied industrial fields.
• Solve engineering problems by analysis and practical methods, including computer application.
• Install, operate, maintain and service plant/machinery, tools and other pieces of equipment.
• Prepare and read engineering drawings.
• Prepare and present engineering reports.
• Apply relevant social science principles to manage engineering organisations and maintain cordial human relations,
• Integrate easily with and perform efficiently in rural communities, and
• Establish and manage successfully careers in their chosen areas of specialisation.

Programmes in the Department

• Bachelor of Technology in Agricultural Engineering
• Higher National Diploma in Agricultural Engineering in three (3) options
  • Agricultural Mechanization
  • Soil and Water Engineering
  • Post Harvest Technology