The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) at the weekend concluded the five-day intensive training that culminated in the adoption of another 75 smart farmers into the NAVSA platform at the University of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, motivated by the success stories arising from the implementation of the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) and its prospect to encourage the youth to embrace agriculture by leveraging digital technologies.
The programme, one of whose goals is to build a sustainable digital platform that provides a variety of information for more than half of the agriculture ecosystem players in Nigeria to enable a highly productive agribusiness economy, has since adopted almost 992 smart farmers and created thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians.
At a brief closing ceremony and presentation of digital tools and seed funding to the beneficiaries, the NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, who was represented by the team lead and Assistant Director of, the Digital Economy Development Department, Dr. Ayodele Bakare, reiterated that the programme is designed to help the farmers raise the efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability of their farm businesses through the adoption of digital technologies.
Giving an overview of the programmes, he disclosed that the programme was designed in two folds: to build the digital and literacy skills of the beneficiaries and to practically demonstrate to them how feasible it is to run a smart farm.
He said that the programme was initiated by NITDA to demonstrate that IT is an enabler of all other sectors of the economy and that, if properly deployed and adopted by farmers, it would aid food production and security in the country, adding that the essence of the training is for the beneficiaries to be able to manage their smart farms and become self-reliant and self-employed.
While advising the beneficiaries to put into practice what they have learned throughout the training and build on it, he assured them that NITDA would continue to provide the necessary support should the need arise.
He said, “What we have done here is to wet your appetite and inspire you to optimize it beyond what NITDA has done for you.” We expect you to maximize your business models by pulling resources together.
Dr. Bakare however called on the management to help the beneficiaries by monitoring and supervising the farms to ensure self-sustaining
“We sincerely thank the Vice Chancellor, the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, and the entire staff for their unfettered support to make this programme a reality, and we believe that it will spur you to expand the scope far beyond what NITDA has donated,” he said.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, who was represented by Prof. Malachy Akporoga of the Soil Science Department, said, “The replica of what NITDA has done for the beneficiaries is to light their candles, which he believes they would also light other people’s candles with.”
“Most of you would leave this school and go out there to replicate what NITDA has done for you.” “NITDA cannot train all of you, but they have found you worthy of the program, and I believe you also help them train more people; when you start, others will follow,” he added.
He informed that designing another approach to farming like NITDA has done would translate to food sufficiency as food is the most important need of man, adding that adoption of digital technologies in Agriculture has justified that hoe and cutlass are not the ends in Agric business but a means to an end.
He further enjoined the beneficiaries to start farming now because of the situation the world has found itself in, noting that anything planted now adds value to well-being. “Imagine the price of flour today because Ukraine is in a war situation.” “I call on you to go out there and become the Ukraine of Nigeria,” he admonished.
In her vote of thanks, the Dean of, the Faculty of Agriculture, Prof. Stella Odebowale, expressed her appreciation to the Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, and the NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, for their foresight to inject digital technologies into farm practice, saying that it would make agriculture attractive to the youths.
She assured me that all the facilities would be used for the purpose for which they were donated. We assure you that we would ensure the sustainability of this programme and monitor the devices given to our students to see that they were utilized for the purpose they were given.
Earlier, an agriculture entrepreneur, Mr. Akin Alabi, who was also one of the resource persons, noted that the NAVSA programme would surely add value to agriculture businesses in Nigeria. “NITDA has impacted the beneficiaries’ prerequisite knowledge to ensure the project does not fail, and with this, we can take digital agriculture to the next level.”
The 75 beneficiaries, who were drawn from different departments of the Faculty of Agriculture and Computer Science, were full of praise for NITDA, saying that the programme has broadened their horizons to think beyond seeing farming as a laborious enterprise.
Deborah Onuchi, one of the beneficiaries, expressed delight that, with the adoption of digital technologies, farming practices have become seamless and enterprising with various opportunities because of the value chain inherent to them.
She promised that with the knowledge NITDA has given her, she has seen agriculture as a business and not as a means to provide sustenance for oneself.
Meanwhile, during the NITDA team’s visit to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adebowale, he commended NITDA for introducing the new trend in agricultural practices to the youth. He maintained that if youths see that adopting smart technologies in agriculture makes it easier, they will surely adopt them.
“I appreciate the fact that the beneficiaries of this programme are youths who are technologically savvy; its acceptability is assured, unlike introducing it to the old, who would not accept it because of old farming traditions.” “They are like dry fish that cannot be straightened,” he concluded.
Among the facilities, NITDA puts in place for the successful implementation of the programme at the institution are the following: provision of connectivity to the beneficiaries; access to the NAVSA platform; facilitation; financial inclusion through the digital wallets on the NAVSA platform; provision of insurance and E-extension services; Provision of smart demo farm, that is, smart irrigation and brooding system, a borehole University satellite farm in Ile-Ogbo, installation of a smart irrigation system by NITDA, a 500litre water tank, one Horse Power surface water pump, and solar inverter installed for the utilization of the smart irrigation farm system.
