The Dwindling Interest in JAMB Candidates Enrolling in Agricultural Science

 

CampusDialog Exposes the Real Situation

We have 50 professors teaching 7 students.
The lecturer-to-student ratio is 7:1.
In Medicine, it is 1:5.
In Law, it is 1:40.

Yet Agriculture is dying while Medicine is oversubscribed.

So the question is not: “Do we have lecturers?”
The question is: “What are they producing?”

Answer: Nothing the market wants. Nothing students respect.

The Agriculture Silence: Why 80% of Farmers Produce 0% of Graduates

How 50 Professors Cannot Save 7 Students

The Brutal Reality: Why Candidates Reject Agriculture

The Professor Paradox: 50 Lecturers, 7 Students, 0 Impact

“Most faculties of Agriculture have more lecturers than students.”

This is one of the most shameful system failures of all.

From my experience, let’s break it down:

A. The Numbers Don’t Lie

Most faculties of Agriculture have more academic staff than students. In some cases, the ratio is 7:1.

Faculty of Law: 20 academic staff to 800 students, a ratio of 1:40.
Faculty of Medicine: 100 academic staff to 500 students, a ratio of 1:5.

Agriculture has the best ratio on paper, but the worst result in reality.

B. So What Are the Professors Doing?

The hard truth I observed from inside the system:

1. Research Nobody Uses

A professor publishes 20 papers on topics like “The Effect of Nitrogen on Maize Yield in 1985.”
No farmer reads them. No company adopts them. No student understands them.

The papers sit in journals.
Students remain ignorant.

2. Theory Without Business

A professor teaches Soil Chemistry but never teaches students how to sell soil testing services to 100 farmers at ₦5,000 each.

Students graduate knowing soil pH, yet they do not know how to make ₦100,000 from that knowledge.

3. No Industry Link

Some lecturers and professors have never visited commercial agricultural companies like Olam or major food supply chains that depend on farm yields. They have never interacted with procurement managers at stores like Shoprite.

Yet they teach 2026 students using 1970 textbooks.

A student asks:
“Sir, where is the tractor?”
The lecturer replies:
“It is in the textbook.”

4. No Entrepreneurship

A professor earns a ₦400,000 salary but does not run even a 1-hectare farm.

He tells students:
“Go into farming.”

But he is not farming himself.

Students naturally think:
“If farming were truly profitable, you would be doing it too.”

C. The Incentive Problem: “Publish or Perish,” Not “Produce or Perish”

The NUC rewards professors for publishing papers, not for producing "agricpreneurs".

So a professor writes 30 papers in 10 years, while the department produces zero graduates with successful farms in that same period.

The NUC calls it “research output.”
I call it “paper waste.”

In many private universities, if you do not produce results, you lose your position.

In public universities, if you publish 30 papers, you become Dean, even if your students remain unemployed.

This is not entirely the professors’ fault.
It is a system failure that rewards the wrong things.

D. The Real Agriculture: Not Hoe, But Business

Modern agriculture is:

Production + Processing + Storage + Export = Business.

But professors must first become businessmen before they can effectively teach business.

From my observation, one Agriculture graduate with a ₦2 million loan and 5 hectares of drip irrigation can earn more than five Accounting graduates working in banks.

But many professors will never show students how because they have never done it themselves.

The Solution: Make Professors Produce, Not Just Publish

A. For Professors: Lead by Example or Step Aside

1. The “Professor-Farmer” Model

Every professor should run a 2-hectare commercial farm on campus.

Students should learn directly from these farms.
Farm profits should support research activities.

If the farm fails consistently, promotion should also be affected.

2. Mandatory Industry Partnerships

Every professor should secure at least one industry partnership yearly with companies such as Olam, Cold Hubs, Flour Mills, or related agribusiness firms.

Without measurable industry engagement, there should be no promotion.

3. Business-Focused Curriculum

Every Agriculture course should be:

50% Technical
50% Business

Professors should teach “Poultry Business Planning,” not just “Poultry Nutrition.”

B. For the NUC: Change the Promotion Criteria

Stop rewarding “30 published papers.”
Start rewarding “30 graduates who became employers.”

A professor’s promotion should partly depend on:

“How many of your students are successfully running agricultural businesses three years after graduation?”

If the answer is zero, there should be consequences.

C. For Students: Demand Value From Professors

Ask your professor in 100-level:

“Sir, can you show us your farm?”

If the answer is no, then ask:

“Why should we study practical agriculture from someone who does not practice it?”

Professors must become accountable.
Titles alone should not command blind respect.

D. For Government: Fund Farms, Not Files

TETFund resources should support commercial campus farms, not endless conferences abroad.

If a department’s farm becomes profitable, increase funding.
If it produces nothing, reduce funding.

From experience, there are Agriculture lecturers who have never practically demonstrated fertilizer application outside classroom instruction.

Therefore, the mindset should shift from:

“Do what I say.”

To:

“Watch what I do.”

I once met a 25-year-old Agriculture graduate employing 30 people through greenhouse farming.

He never learned from those professors.

The professor has the PhD.
The graduate has the profit.

So who should teach the next generation?

Fifty professors cannot attract ten students when they are still teaching 1970s theory in 2026.

Until professors become agricpreneurs, students will continue running away from Agricultural Science.

The hoe is old.
The business is new.
The professor must change too.

Key Issues Highlighted

1. The Professor Paradox: 50 lecturers to 7 students ratio exposed.

2. What Professors Do Wrong: Research nobody uses, theory without business, no industry links, and no entrepreneurship.

3. The Incentive Problem: The NUC rewards papers, not producers.

4. The Solution: Professor-Farmer model and NUC promotion reform.

Let us join hands in repositioning Agricultural Science education for the future.

Ambrose Odiase, FIPMA, MANUPA, MAUA (UK)

Founding Editor, CampusDialog