Joseph Sarwuan Tarkaa University (JOSTUM), former Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi (FUAM) established on 1st of January, 1988 had evolved from the defunct Federal University of Technology which was established in 1980 and later became the Makurdi campus of the University of Jos (UniJos) in October, 1980.

The underlying philosophy is that the average Nigerian farmer should have easy access to the fruits of scientific agriculture. This means that the university scientific community must work on practical problems of village farmers. Also, the students to become useful and effective extension agents they must be for adequately exposed to the discipline of practical farm planning, production and marketing and a period of supervised farming internship at the village level. The basic philosophy then is the democratization and liberation of the scientific transformation of Nigerian agriculture with small scale farmers in the vanguard.

Vision

FUAM is to become a major institutional player in the process of National and global human resource capacity building in agriculture, science, engineering and technology (ASET) for rapid economic growth.

Mission

FUAM is to develop the human mind to be creative, innovative, research-oriented, competent in areas of specialization, knowledgeable in entrepreneurship and dedicated to service hence the UAM logo “Innovation and Service”.

Philosophy

The underlying philosophy is that the average Nigerian farmer should have easy access to the fruits of scientific agriculture. This means that the University scientific community must work on the key practical problems of village farmers. Also, the students, to become useful and effective extension agents must be adequately exposed to the discipline of practical farm planning, production, and marketing and a period of supervised farming internship at the village level. The basic philosophy then is the democratization and liberalization of the scientific transformation of Nigerian agriculture, with small-scale farmers in the vanguard.

Faculties

The University of Agriculture, Makurdi has over 30 departments in ten colleges

• College of Agronomy
• College of Agricultural Economics and Extension
• College of Engineering
• College of Animal Science
• College of Food Technology and Human Ecology
• College of Sciences
• College of Agricultural and Science Education
• College of Veterinary Medicine
• College of Forestry and Fisheries
• College of Management Science
For outreach and public service support, UAM has established a Co-operative Extension Centre (CEC) and a Centre for Food and Agricultural Strategy (CEFAS) which focus on practical agricultural extension liaison support and public policy support services, respectively.