The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) has said that with technology deployment, Nigeria holds a great future in agriculture.
The Director of Agriculture Biotechnology at NABDA, Dr Rose Gidado who stated this while speaking with Nigerian Tribune in her office said because technology is science-based, its sustainability is guaranteed.
“The future of Nigerian agriculture with technology will be great, it holds a great promise because technology is for sustainability, it is something that is based on science, and science is evidence-based, it tells you the truth, so anything based on science has sustainability, a knowledge-based economy is actually the strongest.
“So, it holds a very great promise because science and technology keep evolving, new and emerging tools keep coming all the way to make things easier, to create more productivity, to address all the challenges.
“So as the problem keeps increasing, we too need to increase in knowledge in order to address the problems”, Dr Gidado said.
She said the slow pace of technology adoption in Nigeria’s agriculture is caused by ignorance, misunderstanding, distortion of scientific facts because of a lack of trust, and lack of understanding of science.
The director further stated that there is a lot of disinformation and misinformation peddled by environmentalists and others who don’t believe in using science to move forward.
“Some due to lack of understanding, some due to trade issue, they are seeing this technology as a threat, some who are traditionalists are still in the era of using hoes and cutlasses, meanwhile, the world has moved forward, using mechanization and technology to take agriculture to an enviable position, making it a business.
“But here in Africa, the adoption rate has been low because the policymakers are inundated with contradictory information on the technology”, she noted.
Furthermore, she said the government and scientists will also measure up in terms of bringing understanding, sharing knowledge, experiences, and information dissemination, doing all they can to douse the noise of the anti-technology.
“When we explain to people, give them the science behind and tell them that any information that is not based on science should be disregarded.
“Some people see the technology as a threat to their businesses because the technology reduces the cost of production,” she added.
In terms of advocacy, Gidado said “we have actually gone far in advocacy, we have used so many strategies in the past and the present, and we keep adopting new strategies.
“We have gone to most parts of Nigeria, Nigeria is very vast, you can hardly cover everywhere but we can use radio, and television to reach the grassroots, spreading the information.
“It is much easier now that we have products. We used to canvass support without any product at hand, especially when we went to the grassroots, they took us into confidence but at one point they asked for the products and how they could get it because they were eager to have it.”
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