‘Digital farming way out of worsening food insecurity in Nigeria’

DUE to the challenges posed by worsening insecurity in the country, mostly on agriculture, stakeholders have developed multiple digital solution approaches that will guarantee food security and reduction in insecurity impacts on agriculture sector.

The move, according to stakeholders, is to curtail revenue losses to insecurity, mostly in the agriculture terrain, and to further avert food crisis among the populace.

An agriculture expert and Chief Executive Officer, Agroxchange Technology, Adewale Adegoke, explained that stakeholders in digital farming were very concerned with the adverse impacts of the worsening insecurity on the economy, mostly agriculture, noting that digital scheme was the solution to smallholder farmers’ increased returns on investment and reduction in overhead cost.

Adegoke explained that the data collected around the farms under the smart farming scheme were evidenced baseline data that can influence government’s agricultural policies, regarding technological innovations as panacea to insecurity in agric sector.

The Agroxchange Technology boss said that was why “we work with varsity, academia to be able to come up with these approaches in supporting government regarding embedding technology in the agricultural policies.” According to him, “one of the key approaches to the constraints to the delivery of optimised food security in Nigeria is that we adopted a multiple digital solutions integrated into bundle innovated services through the smart farming acquisition centre.

“Now, through this approach, we offered tailored democratised services choosing top down approach to achieve the expected impact of resilient and improved farmers livelihoods.

With that, we basically look at it from the point of propagatory advisory to the farmers. “We want to be able to solve these issues in our agric sector, such as even taking into account, the current problem we have in the country which is insecurity.

“This has limited the capacity of the farmers going to the farms. They are afraid of being attacked.” “Now we are looking at how do we solve this problem and how do we ensure we can still optimise production, while taking into account solving the problem of insecurity in Nigeria? “Now, one of the things we thought about to be able to propagate this, we decided to acquired and adopted the approach of localised smart farming advisory centres and extension services within farming communities at smart farming villages. “This ensures that the farmers within that communities are provided services that includes security cover and this security will come from the collaboration with local vigilante group that means, we are able to improve the confidence of the farmers and other existing farmers or new farmers.