The Department of Agriculture and Environmental Studies (AGRES) is one of the three departments that make up the School of Science, Agriculture, and Environmental Studies. The department have capable academic staff who have a plethora of expertise in research, teaching and community involvement. To support teaching, research, and community outreach, the department has farms/fields and well-equipped laboratories. The department provide academic programs that support Kenya Vision 2030 which identified agriculture as one of the important sectors in achieving sustainable economic growth and better living conditions.

The department trains innovative, skilled and competent graduates ready for employment, research and create jobs while taking into consideration sustainable utilization of resources. The trained graduates will ensure food security as captured in the Big ‘4’ Agenda which is consistent with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 1 (No poverty) and 2 (Zero Hunger).  According to Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Implementation Framework-KCSAIF (2018-2027), the agricultural sector contributes approximately 25% to Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) directly and another 27% indirectly, where cereals constitute the bulk in volume and area of production.

The department is focused on achieving its mandate of quality teaching, capacity building, conducting research, offering consultancy services, promoting innovation and technology and outreach activities. The faculty offers technical training programs anchored in the different programs in the department. We offer undergraduate, and graduate training programs at M.Sc. and Ph.D. level that are discipline based. The department is in the process of developing a curricula for other taught MSc. programs, for example, MSc. Agricultural Extension, MSc. Agricultural Education and MSc. Agronomy.

Several research activities aiming to improve food security, enhancing adaptation and resilience and sustainable natural resource management are currently ongoing at the department of Agronomy and environmental sciences. Therefore, our diverse agricultural programs attract a wide range of research projects that are anchored at the within the department. The current research programs include:-

1. Aluminum tolerance mechanisms in Kenyan maize germplasm are independent from the citrate transporter ZmMATE1
2. Mitigating the Adverse Health Effects of Aflatoxin by Reducing Human Consumption: A Value Chain approach (Funded by NRF)
3. Sorghum breeding with Wild Relatives: Evaluating pre-breeding material with farmers in Kenya ( Funded by Norwegian government)
4. Enhancing livelihoods of smallholder farmers in western and eastern Kenya through agro-ecological intensification with sorghum based interventions (Funded by McKnight Foundation
5. Soil Analysis Laboratory Facility at Rongo University”(Funded by NRF)
6. Domestication of Meliab Volkensii for Arid and Semi-Arid tree production (Funded by Belgium government)
7. Integrated Natural Resource management: Testing various models of Application (Funded by ASARECA)
8. Women food Entrepreneurship in Urban slums of  Kenya and Burkina Faso (Funded by the Dutch Government)
9. Climate Change Adaptations in Kenya (Funded by Adaptaptation Funds)
10. Project scoping study on status and Development Ambitions of Rice Cultivation and Fodder production in Lake Victoria Basin (Funded by Australian Government).