Agricultural Science Waec Syllabus

• Definition and branches of agricultural science.
• Importance of agriculture to the individual, community and nation

• Problems related to:
  • land tenure;
  • basic amenities;
  • finance;
  • transportation;
  • storage and processing facilities;
  • agricultural education and extension;
  • tools and machinery;
  • farm inputs;
  • marketing system;
  • environmental degradation.
• Possible solutions to identified problems

• Meaning of subsistence and commercial agriculture
• Differences between subsistence and commercial agriculture based on their characteristics.
• Advantages and disadvantages of subsistence and commercial agriculture.
• Problems of subsistence and commercial agriculture.

• Agricultural Finance:
  • credit
  • subsidy
• Agricultural education
• Agricultural extension services.
• Agricultural policies and programmes

• Meaning of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
• Roles of NGOs in agricultural development.

• Land tenure systems in West Africa.
• Government laws on land use in West Africa.
• Advantages and disadvantages of the land use Act (Decree) and reforms in West Africa

• Meaning of agricultural ecology and ecosystem.
• Components of farm ecosystem, e.g., biotic and abiotic
• Interactions of the components in the terrestrial and aquatic agro-ecosystem.

• Meaning of land.
• Characteristics of land – free gift of nature, immobile, limited in supply etc.
• Uses of land:
  • Agricultural purposes:
    • crop production;
    • wild life conservation/game reserve;
    • livestock production, etc.
  • non-agricultural purposes:
    • industry;
    • housing;
    • transport, etc.

• Physical factors
  • soil type;
  • topography;
  • land degradation;
  • soil pollution.
• Economic factors
  • population pressure
  •  expansion of industries
  • mining/mineral exploitation
  • recreation/tourism
• Socio-cultural factors:
  • land tenure system
  • religious purpose (church, mosque and shrine) etc.

• Agro-based industries and  raw materials
  • paper industry: pulp wood;
  • beverage industry (cocoa, tea, etc.);
  • textile industry: cotton;
  • soap industry: oil,  seeds, etc
• Relationship between agriculture and industries:
  • Agriculture provides a market for industrial products, e.g., farm machinery and chemicals;
  • Agriculture provides food for industrial workers.

• Climatic factors, e.g., rainfall, temperature, light, wind, relative humidity.
• Biotic factors, e.g., predators, parasites, soil micro-organisms, pests, pathogens and weeds; interrelationships such as competition, parasitism, and mutualism (symbiosis).
• Edaphic factors: soil pH, soil texture, soil structure, soil type etc.

• Types of rock:
  • igneous;
  • sedimentary
  • metamorphic
• Processes of rock formation.

• Factors of soil formation: the parent rock, organisms, climate, topography and time
• Processes of soil formation
  • physical weathering;
  • chemical weathering
• Soil profile development

• Types of soil
• Chemical and biological composition of soil:
  • soil macro and micronutrients;
  • soil water;
  • soil macro-organisms;
  • soil microbes;
  • soil air.
• Soil pH
• Physical properties of soil:
  • soil texture
  • soil structure

• Macro and micronutrients;  their functions and deficiency symptoms in crops
• Factors affecting the availability of nutrients in soil such as pH, excess of other nutrients, leaching, crop removal, oxidation and burning
• Methods of replenishing lost nutrients, e.g., crop rotation, organic manuring, fertilizer application, fallowing, liming, and cover-cropping
• Nitrogen, carbon, water and phosphorus cycles
• Organic agriculture – meaning and importance

• Meaning of irrigation system
• Types of irrigation systems:
  • overhead, e.g., sprinkler;
  • surface, e.g., flooding, furrow/channel, basin, border;
  • underground, e.g., perforated pipes and drips.
• Advantages and disadvantages of irrigation systems
• Importance of irrigation
• Problems associated with irrigation

• Meaning of drainage.
• Importance of drainage.
• Types of drainage systems
  • surface drainage, e.g., channel, furrow;
  • subsurface/underground drainage.
• Advantages and disadvantages of drainage systems

• Meaning of agricultural pollution
• Causes/sources of pollution of agricultural lands and fish ponds:
  • excessive application of agricultural chemicals;
  • marine and oil spillage;
  • livestock waste and dung disposal etc.
• Effects of land/pond pollution on farmers and agricultural productivity

• Meaning of simple farm tools.
• Types of simple farm tools
  • cutlass, hoe, spade, shovel etc.
• General maintenance of simple farm tools

• Farm machinery:
  • tractor;
  • bulldozer;
  • shellers;
  • dryers;
  • incubators;
  • milking machines;
  • combine harvester etc.
• (b) Tractor-coupled implements:
  • ploughs;
  • harrows;
  • ridgers;
  • planters;
  • harvesters;
  • sprayers etc.

• Reasons for maintaining farm machines
• Maintenance of farm machinery:
  • check water and oil levels regularly
  • carry out routine service
  • keep machines clean etc

• Meaning of agricultural mechanization.
• Mechanized agricultural operations.
• Advantages and disadvantages of agricultural mechanization.
• Limitations of agricultural mechanization.

• Sources of farm power.
• Advantages and disadvantages of different sources of farm power.

• Meaning of farm surveying.
• Common survey equipment.
• Uses of farm survey equipment.
• Maintenance of farm survey equipment.
• Importance of farm surveying.

• Meaning of farm planning.
• Factors to be considered in farm planning.
• Importance of farm planning.

• Meaning of farmstead.
• Importance of farmstead planning.
• Factors to be considered in the design of a farmstead.
• Farmstead layout.

• Classification of crops based on their uses, e.g., cereals, pulses, roots and tubers, and vegetables.
• Classification based on their life cycle, e.g., annual, biennial, perennial, ephemeral.
• Classification based on their morphology, e.g., monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous crops.

botanical names and common names of the crop, varieties/types, climatic and soil requirements, land preparation, methods of propagation, planting date, seed rate, spacing, sowing depth and nursery requirements, cultural practices: supplying, thinning,

manuring and fertilizer requirement and application, weeding, pests and disease control, harvesting, processing and storage of at least one representative crop from each of the following crop groupings:

• Cereals, e.g., maize, rice, guinea corn, millet;
• Pulses (grain legumes), e.g., cowpea, soya bean, pigeon pea.
• Roots and tubers, e.g., cassava, yam, potatoes;
• Vegetables, e.g., tomatoes, onion, amaranthus, okra, cauliflower, spinach;
• Fruits, e.g., citrus, banana, pineapple;
• Beverages, e.g., cocoa, tea, coffee;
• Spices, e.g., pepper, ginger;
• Oils, e.g., groundnut, shea butter, sunflower, oil palm;
• Fibres e.g., cotton, jute, sisal hemp;
• Latex e.g. rubber;
• Others – sugar cane etc.

• Meaning of pasture and forage crops.
• Uses of forage crops.
• Types of pasture.
• Common grasses and legumes used for grazing livestock.
• Factors affecting the distribution and productivity of pasture.
• Establishment of pasture.
• Management practices of pasture.

• Aims of crop improvement.
• Methods/processes of crop improvement, e.g., introduction, selection, breeding.
• Mendel’s laws of inheritance.
• Advantages and disadvantages of crop improvement.

• Meaning of forest and forestry.
• Importance of forestry.
• Forest regulations.
• Forest management practices.
• Implications of deforestation.

• Meaning of agro-forestry.
• Agro-forestry practices:
  • taungya system;
  • alley cropping;
  • ley farming etc.

• Meaning of ornamental plants.
• Importance of ornamental plants.

• Types of ornamental plants according to their uses:
  • bedding plants (mostly   flowering plants);
  • hedging plants;
  • lawn grasses etc.
• Examples of ornamental plants.

• by seed;
• vegetative propagation.

• Meaning of disease
• General effects of diseases on crop production.
• Disease: causal organism, economic importance, mode of transmission, symptoms, prevention and control measures of the diseases of the following crops:
  • cereals – smut, rice blast, leaf rust etc.;
  • legumes – cercospora leaf spot, rosette etc;
  • beverages – cocoa black pod, swollen shoot, coffee leaf rust etc.;
  • tubers – cassava mosaic, bacterial leaf blight etc.;
  • fruits- citrus gummosis, dieback etc
  • fibre – black arm/bacterial blight of cotton etc.;
  • vegetables – root-knot of tomato or okro, damping off, onion twister etc.;
  • tored produce – mould etc.

• Meaning of pests.
• Classification of pests:
  • insect pests;
  • non-insect pests.
• Classification of insect pests based on mouth parts with examples
  • biting and chewing;
  • piercing and sucking;
  • boring.
• Important insect pests of major crops; field and storage pests, life cycle, economic importance, nature of the damage, preventive and control measures of the following major insect-pests of crops:
  • cereals – stem borer, armyworm, earworm etc.
  • legumes – pod borer, aphids, sucking bugs and leaf beetle;
  • beverages – cocoa myrids (capsids);
  • tubers – yam beetle, cassava mealybugs, green spidermites, variegated grasshopper;
  • fibre – cotton stainer, bollworms;
  • fruits and vegetables – thrips, grasshoppers, leaf roller, leaf beetle, scale insect;
  • stored produce – grain weevils, bean beetle.
• Non-insect pests, e.g., birds, rodents etc
• Side effects of preventive and control methods:
  • chemical – pollution, poisoning;
  • biological ­- disruption of the ecosystem etc;
  • cultural – harmful effects of burning etc.
• General effects/economic importance of pests.

• Meaning of weeds.
• Types of weeds.
• Effects of weeds on crops and economy.
• Characteristic features of weeds.
• Methods of controlling weeds:  cultural, biological, chemical, physical and mechanical methods.

• Types of farm animals: cattle, sheep, goat, poultry, pig, rabbit, fish etc.
• Classification of farm animals   according to:
  • (i) habitat: terrestrial and aquatic.
  • (ii) uses: food, protection, pets, etc.

• Parts of farm animals.
• Organs of farm animals, e.g., heart, liver, lungs.
• Systems of farm animals, e.g., digestive system, circulatory system, respiratory system.

• Meaning of reproduction.
• Roles of hormones in the reproduction of farm animals.
• Reproductive systems of farm animals.
• Processes of reproduction in farm animals.
• Egg formation in poultry.

• Meaning of environmental physiology.
• Effects of changes in climatic factors such as:
  • temperature;
  • relative humidity; and
  • light on:
    • Growth, reproduction, milk production, egg production, etc.

• Meaning of livestock management
• Requirements for livestock management: housing, feeding, hygiene and finishing of at least one ruminant and one non-ruminant from birth to market weight.
• Importance of management practices.

• Meaning of animal nutrition.
• Classification of feeds.
• Sources and functions of feed nutrients.
• Types of ration/diet and their uses; components of a balanced diet; production and maintenance rations.
• Causes and symptoms of malnutrition and their correction in farm animals.

• Meaning and importance of rangeland/pasture to livestock and the characteristics of range land.
• Common grasses and legumes  in rangeland.
• Factors affecting the level of production of herbage; rainfall, grass/legume composition, grazing etc.
• Methods of rangeland and pasture improvement:
  • Controlled stocking, rotational grazing, use of fertilizers, introduction of legumes, reseeding, weed control, burning,  pest and disease control.

• Meaning of animal improvement.
• Aims of animal improvement.
• Methods of animal improvement:
  • Introduction;
  • selection;
  • breeding.
• Artificial insemination
  • meaning of artificial insemination.
  • methods of collecting semen.
  • advantages and disadvantages of artificial insemination.

• Meaning of disease
• Causal organisms: viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa.
• Factors that could predispose animals to diseases: health status of animals, nutrition, management etc.
• Reaction of animals to diseases: susceptibility and resistance to diseases.
• Causal organisms, symptoms, mode of transmission, effects, prevention and control of the following selected livestock diseases:
  • viral-foot and mouth, rinderpest, newcastle;
  • bacterial – anthrax, brucellosis, tuberculosis;
  • fungal – aspergillosis, ringworm, scabies;
  • protozoa – trypanosomiasis, coccidiosis.

• meaning of parasite.
• types of parasites.
• mode of transmission, life cycle, economic importance and control of the following selected livestock parasites:
  • endoparasites – tapeworm, liverfluke and roundworm;
  • ectoparasites – ticks, lice.
• General methods of prevention and control of diseases and parasites:
  • Quarantine, inoculation/immunization, hygiene, breeding for resistance etc.

• Meaning of aquaculture.
• Different types of aquaculture:
  • (i)   fish farming;
  • (ii)  shrimp farming;
  • (iii)  crab farming.
• Meaning and importance of fish farming.
• Conditions necessary for siting a fish pond.
• Establishment and maintenance of fish ponds.
• Fishery regulations – meaning and regulations.
• Fishing methods and tools.

• Meaning of apiculture or bee keeping.
• Types of bees
  • indigenous bees;
  • exotic bees.
• Importance of bee keeping.
• Methods of bee keeping:
  • traditional method;
  • modern bee-keeping.
• Bee-keeping equipment: beehives, hive tools like suits,smokers, jungle boots, brushes, etc.
• Precautionary measures in beekeeping:
  • locate apiaries far from human dwellings;
  • put warning symbols near the apiary etc.

• scarcity;
• choice;
• Scale of preference;
• law of diminishing returns.

• land;
• capital;
• labour – characteristics and classification;
• management or entrepreneur

• Definition of demand.
• Law of demand.
• Factors affecting demand for agricultural produce.
• Movements along the demand curve.
• Shifts in the demand curve.

• Definition of supply.
• Law of supply.
• Movements along the supply curve.
• Shifts in the supply curve.
• Factors affecting the supply of agricultural produce.

• Price support.
• Price control.
• Subsidy programme and its effects on agricultural production.
  

• Meaning of a farm manager.
• Functions of a farm manager.

• Meaning of agricultural finance.
• Importance of agricultural finance.
• Sources of farm finance.

• Classification based on length of time:
  • short-term credit;
  • medium-term credit;
  • long-term credit.
• classification based on the source of credit:
  • institutional credit;
  • non-institutional credit.
• classification based on liquidity:
  • loan in cash;
  • loan in-kind.
• Problems faced by farmers in procuring agricultural credit.
  • high-interest rate;
  • lack or inadequate collateral, etc.
• Problems faced by institutions in granting loans to farmers:
  • lack of records and accounts etc.

• meaning of capital market, institutions that deal with medium and long-term loans for agricultural business.
• institutions involved in the capital market
• sources of funds for the capital market:
  • bonds
  • insurance companies;
  • merchant banks;
  • the stock exchange (sales and purchases of shares).
• roles of capital markets in agricultural business:
  • mobilization of long-term funds for on-lending;
  • reduce over-reliance on the money market, etc.

• Importance of farm records.
• Types of farm records:
  • inventory records;
  • production records;
  • income and expenditure    records;
  • supplementary or special records.
• Designing farm records
• Farm accounts
  • expenditure/ purchases   account;
  • income/sales account;
  • profit and loss account;
  • balance sheet.

• Meaning and importance of marketing of agricultural produce.
• Marketing agents and their functions.
• Marketing functions
  • assembling;
  • transportation;
  • processing etc.
• Marketing of export crops.
• Export crops in West Africa.
• Guidelines for exporting crops in West Africa.
• Corporate bodies, cooperative societies, and individuals engaged in exporting agricultural produce, e.g., ANCE (Association of Nigerian Cooperative Exporters),.
• Importance of exporting agricultural produce.
• Problems of marketing agricultural produce.

• Meaning of agricultural insurance.
• Importance of agricultural insurance.
• Types of insurance policies for agricultural production:
  • specific enterprise insurance, e.g., crop insurance, livestock  insurance;
  • farm vehicle insurance;
  • fire disaster insurance or  machines and buildings insurance;
  • life assurance (farmers, farm workers, and farmers’ households).
• Insurance premium
• Problems with agricultural insurance:
  • uncertainties of weather;
  • losses due to natural disasters etc.

• Meaning and importance of agricultural extension
• Agricultural extension methods:
  • individual contact methods;
  • group contact methods etc.
• Agricultural extension programmes in West Africa, e.g., ADP, NDE, Agro-service centres, state ministries of agriculture and natural resources
• Problems of agricultural extension in West Africa. e.g. illiteracy among farmers, inadequate transport facilities etc.

• Soil
• Soil profile
• Rocks
• Laboratory work on the physical properties of soil
  • Mechanical analysis by sedimentation and also by the use of hydrometer method or sieves
  • Determination of bulk density and total pore space.
  • Determination of moisture content of a moist soil sample.
  • Determination of maximum water holding capacity.
  • Determination of wilting point.
  • Determination of capillary action.
• Laboratory work on chemical properties of soil.
  • Determination of soil acidity using a pH meter and/or any other gadget or simple equipment.
  • Common types of chemical fertilizers.
  • Organic manure:
    • green manure;
    • farm yard;
    • compost.
• Irrigation and drainage

•  Farm tools and equipment
• Tractor and animal-drawn implement
• Harvesting, processing, and storage equipment.
• Farm tractor
• Use and maintenance of horticultural tools and implements.
• Livestock and fishing equipment
• Farm surveying equipment

• Seeds, seedlings, fruits and storage organs of crops.
• Main pests and diseases of crops
• Planting dates, seed rates, plant population and seed quality tests of the more common local crop plants.
• Preparation of seedbeds, fertilizer application, mulching, use of pesticides, watering, vegetative propagation, germination tests etc.
• Forest products and by-products.
• Methods of propagation of horticultural plants.
• Common weeds

• Common breeds of animals and types of animals available in the locality.
• Major internal organs of farm animals, e.g., organs of the digestive system, reproductive and excretory systems.
• Animal by-products.
• Animal feeds and feedstuffs and their local sources.
• Main pests and parasites of farm animals.
• Diseases of farm animals.
• Routine management practices in farm animals, e.g., selection of livestock and poultry for breeding, culling, ear-notching, tattooing, horn or skin branding, debeaking, dehorning, castration.
• Fish harvesting and preservation.