Welcome to the Faculty of Agriculture

 

The Faculty Of Agriculture is geared to contribute to the improvement of food security, incomes and general welfare of all peoples of Zimbabwe and the SADC region through the provision of high quality training, research and outreach activities to the agricultural and natural resources sectors.

 

What Facilities Does the Faculty Offer?

 

The Faculty is noted for its friendly, informal atmosphere and close relations between students and teaching staff.  Teaching is through lectures, seminars, tutorials along with on-farm and laboratory work and demonstrations.

The Faculty provides facilities and an environment which are appropriate for the academic level of work required for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.  In addition to lecture theatres, tutorials rooms and well equipped laboratories, the Faculty has greenhouse complex, field laboratories, resource centres in each department and computer facilities.  The Faculty recognizes the importance of computer teaching and maintains an established computer centre.  Students are given comprehensive instruction and every opportunity to use computers.

Mission Statement

Mission Statement
Mission The Mission of the Faculty of Agriculture is to provide up-to-date relevant and appropriate scientific knowledge needed for econom...

Academic programs

By Faculty
All Programmes at University of Zimbabwe by Faculty...

Departments

Departments
   The Faculty of Agricyulture has 5 departments. They are: Crop Science Animal Science Soil Science Soil ...

Dean's Office

Dean's Office
A very warm welcome to the Faculty of Agriculture . This will give you an insight to the activities of the Faculty and the contributions to th...

Programmes on offer

Programmes on offer
  The Faculty of Agriculture offers the following programmes:       Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Applied Environ...
Animal Science Department

Find more info

 

The primary role of the Department of Animal Science is to train graduates, conduct research and provide advice in the key areas of animal production and management, biochemistry of animal feeds and nutrition, applied genetics and livestock breeding, animal physiology, range animal production, animal welfare and the technologies utilized in processing animal products. This function is achieved through teaching theory and practice, need-driven research and outreach programs. The Department produces about 20 BSc graduates annually and 10 MSc graduates every other year. The research activities are in response to the requirements of the Zimbabwean livestock industry. In addition, MPhil and DPhil graduates are produced in varying numbers annually. The Department is actively involved in finding solutions to smallholder farmers' production constraints. Our main research thrust currently is the improvement of smallholder dairy, beef, pig, broiler and ostrich production, and animal draught power provision.

BACKGROUND

The Department of Animal Science is primarily concerned with propagating knowledge of the factors which affect productivity, the principles of management of farm animals and the way in which animal products are prepared and subsequently, processed for the market. This function is achieved through teaching, research and outreach programs.

The undergraduate courses provided by the Department of Animal Science have been selected so that all students are given a basic training in general agriculture, together with specialist courses in Animal Science. Therefore the curriculum is not a narrow specialization but is designed to produce graduates suitable for employment within the broad field of animal production, research and the animal food industry. Details of the content of courses given to Animal Science students by other departments are provided in the University Prospectus and relevant departmental guides. In turn, the Department of Animal Science provides service courses which students from other departments pursuing non-animal science options may attend.

The Department also offers a Masters in Animal Science, which lasts for two years. The first year consists of taught courses in advanced animal nutrition, physiology, biometry, animal breeding and special topics in animal production. The second year consists of an individual research project. This degree is intended to give students advanced training in Animal Science and experience of research in one of the important branches of the subject. We also offer and supervise higher research degrees, MPhil and DPhil, which may be full or part-time.