The establishment of specialized Universities of Agriculture in Nigeria is a milestone in the nation’s educational and developmental history. The Michael Okpara University of Agriculture , Umudike was established by Edict No 48 of the Federal Government of Nigeria established the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in May 1993 with the central mandate and mission of imparting agricultural education in a scientific and practical way, undertaking applied research and such extension services as would assist the achievement of national self-sufficiency in food production and catalyzing as well as sustaining rural development.
Thus the University operates unique academic programmes in engineering, which are carefully planned to meet the manpower requirements for an agricultural revolution in the country. The programmes are woven into the overall mandate and mission of the University taking into consideration all necessary criteria, indicators and peculiarities of the specialized nature of a University of Agriculture.
In due course, it became clear that the mission of the Institution could not be properly achieved, neither could Agriculture be successfully developed nor meaningfully utilized in the industrialization and sustenance of the nation without an accompanying College of Engineering. Thus in 2001/2002 academic session, the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology came into existence with the establishment of the Department of Agricultural Engineering as the first engineering Department. The Department run a 5-year degree programmes leading to the award of the Bachelor of Engineering (B. Eng) Degree.
Agricultural Engineering Department has three major options in Agricultural Engineering thus: Agricultural Products Processing/ Storage and Food Engineering, Farm Power and Machinery Engineering and Soil and Water Resources Engineering.
Presently, the department is called Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering as fallout from COREN accreditation.