FG to adopt digital technology for small scale farmers

The Federal Government has concluded plans to adopt phygital technology for farmers across the country. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bukar Hassan, speaking during the presentation of the phygital smallholder value chains technology, yesterday, in Abuja, underscored the need to provide extension services for small-scale farmers.

He said: “If we want small-scale farmers to find their footing in the agriculture sector, we must do exactly what we are saying here. We must provide farmers with extension services and the knowledge needed to evolve his skills from subsistence to commercial farming. And I believe this technology would help us solve so many problems.”

The Director, Research and Development Digital Agriculture Manobi, Pierre Sibery Traore, explained that the initiative is divided into two phases of agcelerant and phygital technology, noting that agcelerant is the value chain orchestration platform that helps link farmers to financial services.

He said the essence of the project is to ensure the safe inclusion of small-scale farmers to the World Food Market. He said that because of the size of Nigeria’s economy, the country could be a major supplier of food to the world in the coming decade. He said there is need to set in motion the phygital infrastructure to make it happen.

Traore further explained that the organisation is also launching the Nurturing Africa Digital Revolution for Agriculture (NADIRA), to embed in phygital agriculture the use of advanced satellite technology.