WHAT IS AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY (DETAILED)

Agricultural engineering and biotechnology is the applied branch of engineering that is concerned with mechanised agricultural production, management, sales, research and development, mechanized
farm operations, structures construction irrigation and drainage, processing and storage, flood water control systems and performing environmental impact assessments, interpretation of research results and implementing relevant practices by combining the discipline of mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical, computer, aerospace engineering principles with a knowledge of agricultural principles according to technological principles in managing, maintenance, development, designing, fabricating and coupling equipment, tools, implements and machineries.

The key goal of this discipline is to improve the efficacy and sustainability of agricultural practices by analysing agricultural operations and developing new technologies and ways of doing things to improve land use, increase yield or productivity and conserve resources, recommending ways to protect health, safety and security of workers, animals and agricultural products, and most importantly reduce drudgery by hastening production processes.

Agricultural engineering deals with the designing of equipment and developing methods for land preparation, planting and harvesting by using automation, precision and smart technologies with new and existing equipment. Agricultural engineering can be classified into the following areas:

• Design of agricultural machinery, equipment, and agricultural structures
• Internal combustion engines as applied to agricultural machinery
• Agricultural resource management
• Water management, conservation, and storage for crop irrigation and livestock production
• Surveying and land profiling
• Climatology and atmospheric science
• Soil management and conservation, including erosion and erosion control
• Seeding, tillage, harvesting and processing of crops
• Livestock production
• Waste management
• Food engineering and processing of agricultural products
• Basic principles of circuit analysis, as applied to electrical motors
• Physical and chemical properties of materials used in or produced by agricultural production
• Bio-resource engineering
• Design of experiments related to crop and animal production.

All these are further adaptably grouped into five branches in Nigeria, they are: farm machinery, farm structures, farm electrification, soil and water conservation and food processing.