Introduction To Agricultural Economics

1. Understand the basic concepts of economics and agricultural economics.
2. Analyze the forces of demand and supply in agricultural markets.
3. Apply production and cost theories to optimize agricultural production decisions.
4. Evaluate the efficiency of agricultural marketing systems.
5. Assess the role of agriculture in Nigeria's economic development.
6. Identify and analyze the problems facing the Nigerian agricultural sector.

13 weeks, about 70 hours in total. Yours will differ.

1. Week 1Module 1: Scope and Nature of Economics

   • Unit 1: Scope and Nature of Economics · 3 hours

     Define economics and its core concepts.. Differentiate between wants and scarce resources.. Understand the concepts of scale of preference and opportunity cost.. Identify economic problems and their characteristics..

   • Unit 2: Meaning of Agricultural Economics · 3 hours

     Define agricultural economics and its scope.. Explain the relationship between agricultural economics and other agricultural disciplines.. Identify the various sub-disciplines within agricultural economics.. Discuss the importance of economic principles in agricultural decision-making..

2. Week 2Module 2: Demand, Supply and Price Theory

   • Unit 1: Theory of Demand · 4 hours

     Define demand and differentiate between individual and market demand.. Explain the law of demand and its exceptions.. Analyze factors influencing demand and their impact on the demand curve.. Differentiate between changes in quantity demanded and shifts in the demand curve..

3. Week 3Module 2: Demand, Supply and Price Theory

   • Unit 2: Theory of Supply · 4 hours

     Define supply and differentiate between individual and market supply.. Explain the law of supply and its exceptions.. Analyze factors influencing supply and their impact on the supply curve.. Differentiate between changes in quantity supplied and shifts in the supply curve..

4. Week 4Module 2: Demand, Supply and Price Theory

   • Unit 3: Concepts of Elasticities of Demand and Supply · 4 hours

     Define elasticity and explain its measurement.. Calculate and interpret price elasticity of demand.. Discuss the determinants and uses of price elasticity of demand.. Explain income and cross elasticity of demand and their applications..

5. Week 5Module 2: Demand, Supply and Price Theory

   • Unit 4: Price Theory · 4 hours

     Define price and explain its role in resource allocation.. Describe the various methods of price determination.. Differentiate between market price and normal price.. Analyze the conditions necessary for stable equilibrium in a market..

6. Week 6Module 3: Theory of Production

   • Unit 1: Meaning of Production · 3 hours

     Define production and identify the key resources involved in agricultural production.. Differentiate between free and economic resources.. Discuss the characteristics of land, labor, capital, and management as agricultural resources..

   • Unit 2: Production Function · 3 hours

     Define production function and explain its uses.. Differentiate between short-run and long-run production functions.. Discuss the algebraic forms of production functions and their properties.. Derive and interpret key production function parameters such as average product, marginal product, and elasticity of production..

7. Week 7Module 3: Theory of Production

   • Unit 3: Production Relationships Factor Product Relationship · 4 hours

     Explain the factor-product relationship and its importance in agricultural decision-making.. Describe the three stages of the production function curve and their characteristics.. Apply mathematical concepts to interpret the three stages of production.. Determine the optimal input combination for profit maximization..

8. Week 8Module 3: Theory of Production

   • Unit 4: Production Relationships Factor- Factor Relationship · 4 hours

     Explain the factor-factor relationship and its role in input substitution.. Define and interpret isoquants and the marginal rate of input substitution (MRIS).. Analyze the three stages of production under the factor-factor relationship.. Determine the optimal input combination for cost minimization and profit maximization..

9. Week 9Module 3: Theory of Production

   • Unit 5: Production Relationships Product-Product Relationship · 4 hours

     Explain the product-product relationship and its application in enterprise combination.. Define and interpret the production possibility curve (PPC) and the marginal rate of product substitution (MRPS).. Classify products based on their relationship (competitive, complementary, supplementary, joint).. Determine the optimal product combination for profit maximization..

10. Week 10Module 4: Theory of Cost

    • Unit 1: Meaning and Structure of Costs · 3 hours

      Define cost and differentiate between accounting costs, opportunity costs, and private costs.. Explain the structure of farm costs and the importance of imputed costs.. Discuss the factors influencing the cost of production..

    • Unit 2: Measurement of Costs · 3 hours

      Describe the classical measures of cost (total cost, variable cost, fixed cost).. Explain the relationship between total cost, variable cost, and fixed cost.. Discuss the importance of cost measurement in farm business analysis..

11. Week 11Module 4: Theory of Cost

    • Unit 3: Agricultural Cost Functions · 4 hours

      Define cost function and explain its derivation from the production function.. Describe the shape of the total cost, total variable cost, and total fixed cost functions.. Derive and interpret average cost functions (ATC, AVC, AFC) and marginal cost function.. Analyze the relationship between average cost and marginal cost..

12. Week 12Module 5: Agricultural Marketing

    • Unit 1: Meaning of Markets · 4 hours

      Define market and explain the conditions for a market to exist.. Discuss the importance of markets in economic analysis.. Differentiate between various types of markets based on degree of competition, volume of trade, and commodity traded..

    • Unit 2: Types of Markets · 4 hours

      Explain the criteria for categorizing markets.. Differentiate between perfect and imperfect markets.. Describe the characteristics of retail and wholesale markets.. Discuss different types of commodity markets..

13. Week 13Module 6: Agriculture in Nigeria's Economy

    • Unit 3: Agricultural Marketing · 6 hours

      Define agricultural marketing and explain its importance.. Discuss the unique characteristics of agricultural products and their impact on marketing.. Describe the various marketing functions (exchange, physical, facilitating).. Identify the major problems of agricultural marketing in Nigeria..

    • Unit 1: Agriculture in Nigeria's Economic Development · 6 hours

      Evaluate the performance of the agricultural sector in Nigeria's economic development.. Analyze the characteristics of the Nigerian agricultural sector.. Discuss the contributions of agriculture to the nation's economy.. Identify the problems facing the Nigerian agricultural sector (technical, socio-economic, organizational, institutional)..