BY DWELLETH MOROUNTODUN
The Federal Government through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), an agency under the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has kick-started the momentum of taping from the estimated $7.5 billion digital agriculture turnover from strategically investing in that sector using smart digital technologies in the next 10 years.
Studies made available to EXTRAORDINAIREPEOPLE.COM, an Abuja online medium confirmed that in 2015 a staggering $4.6 billion was reported to have been made from investments in digital agriculture and that output rate from investment in that sector is likely to increase by 60% by 2030.
Riding on the initiative of the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) programme, recently launched in Ekiti and Jigawa States, by Dr. Ibrahim Pantami, the Minister supervising the Ministry and the DG of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi, are of the conviction that Nigeria’s agriculture sector must go digital if the economy is to be diversified from being an oil dependent mono-economy.
To emplace a robust environment to drive a digital platform for transformation of the agricultural sector for a digital Nigeria, the agency in collaboration with Ekiti and Jigawa State have commenced the NAVSA empowerment programme for 270 farmers spread across both states intended to harness the dividend of digital agriculture to improve agriculture productivity in the country as it is done in developed countries of China, United States, India, Germany and the United Kingdom.
One of such reforms, Extraordinaire online learnt is partnership with telecom outfits in providing special packages for adopted farmers, which package comes with special data every month on a 4G SIM Card creating a Closed User Group (CUG) for all the adopted farmers. Inevitably, this will allow farmers to make calls within themselves free of charge to share information and experience.
NITDA has expressed determination to downscale the NAVSA initiative throughout the entire 36 states of the federation so that farmers from all that 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) can key into the scheme to all empower themselves while meeting the nation’s food security challenges.
Speaking at the Ekiti NAVSA launch, the Minister said: “The requirements to succeed in the 4th Industrial Revolution (IR) necessitate digitalization to be at the core of any nation’s developmental policy and strategy, stressing that digital economy is the single most important driver of innovation, competitiveness and growth.
He said there is no doubt that digitization of the economy is one of the most critical issues of our time. Traditional industries are being reshaped by business models that have never existed before.”
According to Pantami, digitization has a proven impact on the economy and society by reducing unemployment, improving quality of life, and boosting access to knowledge, adding that it is transforming the world in almost every aspect of life during the last few decades.
The access to the internet, increase of people using mobile phones, social media and other digital services changed the way people interact, communicate, learn and work in almost every country, he added.
It was this futuristic thinking according to him, that made President Muhammadu Buhari, to unveil the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria on the 28th of November, 2019 with a vision to transform Nigeria into a leading digital economy providing quality life and digital economies for every Nigerian.
Pantami, asserted that the potential benefits of digitizing the agro-food sector are convincing but it would require major transformations of farming systems, rural economies, communities and natural resource management. “This is a challenge which requires a systematic, technology-driven and holistic approach to achieving the full potential and benefits.”
According to him, smart agriculture is part of promoting digital innovation and digital entrepreneurship, stressing that agriculture has been very significant to our economy as a nation and it continues to remain very relevant in our country.
On the need for paradigm shift in the nation’s agriculture processes, he said: “However, we discovered that the output we generate from agriculture compared to our efforts and resources being spent has no justification for that in order to enhance the output from agriculture to save cost and at the same time to integrate it, we came up with Smart agriculture initiative.
With the policy directive and in line with digital literacy and skills, solid infrastructure, service infrastructure, digital services development and promotion as well as indigenous content promotion and adoption pillars of NDEPS, the Minister directed NITDA through NAVSA platform to enable the opportunities in the agricultural sector for sustainable job creation and economic diversification.
“Building a digital platform to connect agriculture ecosystems to deliver services to farmers in a more productive and efficient manner is in the interest of nurturing a digital economy for a digital Nigeria.” he said.
On downscaling the initiative for the country’s agriculture transformation, Pantami called on the private sector, development partners and state governments to support the initiative to partner with the government in the areas of finance, farm inputs, research and development, capacity building, smart solutions and green energy.
“The success of this initiative in the agriculture sector will practically demonstrate the potentials inherent in digital technologies and innovations as the great enabler of the digital economy.” he said.
Also speaking at the launch in Ekiti, Abdullahi, in his remarks said: “We believe leveraging digital technologies and innovations will attract youthful population into agriculture, create new digital business models across the agriculture value chain, enable millions of jobs, increase productivity and contribution of the agriculture to GDP thereby making Nigeria a leading nation in food security and exporter of standard agricultural produce to the rest of the world.”
He recalled that the programme was first piloted in Jigawa state earlier this year adding that the project was initiated to systematically adopt farmers across the 774 local government areas (LGAs) in the country in order to equip them with necessary digital skills that will make Nigeria one of the leading nations for smart agriculture.
“This initiative is geared towards supporting the government’s digital economy agenda in order to bring into reality the economic diversification of the Buhari Administration and ensure the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending hunger and achieving food security by 2030. He said.
According to him, agriculture technology has arrived to revolutionizing agriculture from promoting indoor vertical farming in the urban areas which use up to 70% less water than traditional farms to farm automation that automates crop or livestock production cycle using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, autonomous tractors, drones and robotics innovation etc. to livestock farming technology that makes tracking and managing livestock data-driven and much easier to modern greenhouses that are techy and data-driven.” he said.
The DG, further revealed that harnessing these potentials through AgricTech to create jobs could therefore be a game-changer for the agriculture sector. “With NAVSA, what we have done is to rethink agriculture differently, by introducing digital technologies and innovations in a strategic manner that woos and connects ecosystem players to make the journey of agriculture business seamless, productive, efficient and rewarding.”
According to him, the target of the programme is to adopt farmers in all 36 States and 774 LGAs in the country, support and equip them with skills and resources that will make Nigeria one of the leading nations in food sufficiency, security and exportation.
He said: “The empowerment programme will provide smart device seed fund of N100,000 for enterprise inputs; digital agri-preneurship training and skill acquisition, connectivity which includes one-year internet access and CUG calls for adopted farmers; NAVSA platform financial inclusion through digital wallets, e-extension services, agriculture as a business and agro business models’ opportunities and continuous reinvestment model.
In his remark, the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi represented by Dr. Olabode Adeoyi, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, said: “Agriculture is the next oil for the country, bringing about the creation of jobs, assuring citizens of food security in the country”.
“Digital Technology will enable you to do things at ease without stress, bringing about an increase in productivity, creating jobs, better performance and increased revenue.” he added.
Adeoyi further said that the expectation from this programme is to address issues of land management, use of digital technologies to drive Agriculture, and changing the mindset of our youths, bringing out the various potentials embedded within them.