NITDA urges Nigerians to embrace ICT in agriculture practice

AS part of the agency’s resolve to enhance production in the agricultural sector, the Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Pantami, has urged Nigerians to advance agriculture with the use of Information Communications Technology (ICT).

He made this call in a statement issued by the national coordinator, Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), Dr. Amina Sambo-Magaji, at the third edition of NITDA FutureHack event in Abuja.

According to Pantami, the need for ‘Innovative Technology’ is necessary in an effort to remit local challenges in the agricultural sector in the country as it is in essence for Social and Economic Development in Nigeria.

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He noted that: “FutureHack is a national technology hackathon event in which computer programmers collaborate intensively on software projects usually held in academic environments to inculcate innovation and entrepreneurship culture in students to drive Nigeria’s digital economy.”

He stated that modern agriculture is expanding globally with digitally-enabled agriculture, precision farming, hydroponics, robotics and artificial intelligence, therefore, technology is an enabler which should be mobilised in the country to restructure the sector effectively.

“Restructuring the agricultural sector has kicked off. We have irrigation systems that are controlled by mobile phones and reducing labour cost’’, Dr. Pantami added.

He further explained that agriculture is critical to the economy of the country; transforming agriculture through technology is a key to reviving the economy and technology which can monitor food shipments throughout the supply chains in products market linkages.

The DG reiterated that the agency is committed to regulating and developing sectors of government by enabling ICT.