NITDA Launch Digital Platform, Honours 15 Farmers
By Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja- November 6, 2019
Fifteen Farmers received honours and presentation of the support fund and tablet during the e-Nigeria 2019 National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Award night in Abuja.
According to the Desk officer of NITDA in charge of National Agriculture Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), Lukman Lamid, who disclose that this year’s event marks the beginning of a transformation in the Agricultural sector to enable the sector contribute effectively to the digital economy of Nigeria and create jobs for the teeming youths.
According to Lamidi, what NITDA did is to rethink agriculture differently, by creating a digital platform that will connect the Agric ecosystem and enable the possibility of new business models by the private sector which will, in turn, generate new products and services and create value across the Agric value chain.
He further noted that the exercise is to support the Honorable Minister’s digital economy focus especially in a critical sector of the economy as Agriculture in order to bring into reality the economic diversification of President Muhammadu Buhari and ensure attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 which is to end hunger and achieve food security by 2030.
He also explained that NITDA Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) is a projected concerned to create about 6 million jobs through its technology platform. The platform, he further stated is to connect all the Agric ecosystem members comprised of farmers, government agencies, Agric Experts, the banks and micro-lenders, extension services, hardware solution providers, software developers, customers, the marketplace, among others across the Agric value chain.
He noted that the idea is to support 25 graduates in each o the 774 LGAs on modern Agric methods, give them the resources and the right technology to enable them to manage their farms from planting to harvesting and marketing. The Desk Officer further stressed that this pilot phase is a proof of concept which had witnessed selection, training and support of 15 graduates in Gombe state on modern farming methods in collaboration with National Agriculture Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS). He noted that the development of a digital platform by NITDA with its mobile app components was launched b the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami and DG Nitda, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
The platform he explained is to serve NITDA supported farmers, any other farmers and all the ecosystem members when it is fully ready. He further noted that ability to get information, to monitor farms in real – time and connect with resources to manage farm effectively will improve crop yield, quality of farm produce per block of land and profit for these farmers.
The desk officer further stated that in future, NITDA would deploy and integrate smart technologies such as IOT on the platform to improve the accuracy and processes of getting information in real – time, integrate with GIS technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Big data analytics among other emerging technologies to add more value to the platform.
He praised and credited the Honourable minister of communication and digital economy for the innovation. His words: “I will like note that this innovation is a product of research paper “Towards Diversification of Nigeria Economy through Smart Agriculture” published by the Hon. Minister in June 2017 in International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology Research.
This gentleman is an uncommon leader, a mentor, innovator, agent of change and names it – you have to give it to him. We are proud of you Honourable Minister sir. I want to appreciate my DG, a silent achiever who has demonstrated professionalism and has been consistent with Pantami’s ideal. If not for his support, this would have not been possible”.
