By Shuaib S. Agaka

Food is one of the basic necessities of life that every living being needs, in order to remain alive and become relevant in contributing towards societal productivity.

However, a lot of problems and challenges have been hindering the full realisation of the potential attributed to the agricultural sector in Nigeria and other developing countries, thereby making the project of food security unattainable.

In a positive light, a quiet revolution is underway, powered not by traditional tools alone, but by the digital innovations of the 21st century. At the heart of this transformation lies a strategic partnership between Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aimed at catalyzing progress in digital agriculture and ensuring food security across the nation.

This partnership represents a pivotal shift in agricultural practices, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to address age-old challenges and usher in a new era of sustainability and productivity.

Nigeria with its vast agricultural potential and growing population, faces a pressing need to modernize its farming practices to meet the demands of the food market. The integration of digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and blockchain into agriculture holds the promise of unlocking unprecedented efficiencies and insights.

Through the collaborative efforts of NITDA and USAID, these technologies can be harnessed to empower farmers, improve crop yields, optimize resource utilization, and enhance overall agricultural resilience.

By leveraging the expertise and resources of NITDA and USAID, Nigeria is poised to tap into the transformative potential of digital solutions tailored specifically for the agricultural domain. These solutions are designed to empower farmers, increase efficiency along the value chain, promote inclusive growth, and foster resilience in the face of evolving environmental and economic challenges.

One of the key pillars of this digital revolution in agriculture is the deployment of IoT solutions across farming landscapes. IoT-enabled sensors embedded in soil and crops will offer real-time data on moisture levels, nutrient content, and disease prevalence. This data, transmitted and analyzed through interconnected systems, enables farmers to make informed decisions regarding irrigation schedules, fertilizer application, and disease management.

The advent of IoT-enabled precision agriculture extends beyond basic monitoring to encompass predictive analytics and automated control systems. By analyzing data on environmental factors, crop health indicators, pest infestations, and equipment performance, farmers can proactively address challenges and optimize interventions. For example, predictive models can forecast disease outbreaks based on weather patterns, enabling measures such as targeted pest control or disease-resistant crop varieties.

Additionally, one of its significant advantages in agriculture is its ability to enhance resource efficiency and sustainability. By precisely monitoring soil conditions, water usage, and nutrient levels, farmers can optimize inputs such as fertilizers and irrigation, reducing waste and environmental impact. This not only conserves resources but also contributes to cost savings and long-term soil health, crucial factors for sustainable farming practices.

Moreover, the scalability of IoT solutions further enhances their impact across different scales of agricultural operations. From smallholder farms to large agribusiness enterprises, IoT technologies can be tailored to meet specific needs and challenges.

Complementing IoT advancements is the transformative potential of AI in agriculture, a domain where data-driven insights can unlock significant value. AI algorithms analyze vast datasets collected from farms, weather stations, and satellite imagery to generate actionable recommendations for farmers. From predicting optimal planting times and identifying crop diseases early to optimizing supply chain logistics and predicting market trends, AI empowers farmers with precision tools for decision-making, mitigating risks, and maximizing returns on investments.

At the core of AI-driven agriculture lies the ability to process vast amounts of data collected from diverse sources such as satellites, drones, IoT sensors, and farm machinery. These data streams encompass a range of variables including weather patterns, soil characteristics, crop health indicators, and pest infestations. By ingesting, processing, and analyzing this data in real time, AI systems can generate valuable recommendations and alerts for farmers, enabling them to make informed decisions promptly.

Also, AI in agriculture can be predictive modeling, where algorithms forecast outcomes based on historical data and current environmental conditions. For example, AI models can predict optimal planting times, recommend crop varieties suited to specific soil types, and forecast yield expectations based on weather forecasts and agronomic factors. By integrating these predictions into farm management practices, farmers can optimize input use, minimize risks, and maximize productivity across their operations.

AI-powered image recognition and analysis techniques can also play a crucial role in monitoring crop health and detecting pest or disease outbreaks early. By analyzing aerial or ground-based imagery captured by drones or satellites, AI algorithms can identify subtle changes in plant foliage, detect anomalies indicative of pest infestations or nutrient deficiencies, and alert farmers to take targeted corrective actions. This proactive approach not only minimizes yield losses but also reduces the reliance on chemical inputs, promoting sustainable farming practices.

The integration of AI extends beyond on-farm operations to encompass supply chain optimization and market intelligence. AI-driven logistics and inventory management systems can optimize storage conditions, transportation routes, and distribution networks for agricultural products, reducing waste and ensuring timely delivery to markets. Moreover, AI-powered market analysis tools provide farmers with insights into price trends, demand fluctuations, consumer preferences, and market opportunities, empowering them to make strategic marketing and pricing decisions.

Also, on the other hand, blockchain technology can revolutionise transparency, traceability, and trust within agricultural value chains as it is one of the primary challenges in traditional supply chains.

This opacity not only hampers consumer confidence but also creates inefficiencies and vulnerabilities such as counterfeiting and supply chain disruptions. Blockchain technology addresses these challenges by creating a tamper-proof and verifiable record of every transaction and process involved in the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural goods.

By recording transactions, contracts, and product provenance on tamper-proof distributed ledgers, blockchain ensures authenticity and accountability from farm to fork. Farmers, consumers, retailers, and regulators can verify the quality, origin, and ethical standards of agricultural products, enhancing market access, reducing food fraud, and fostering fair trade practices.

Additionally, farmers can digitally register their produce at the point of harvest, capturing essential data points such as location, time, crop variety, farming practices, and quality parameters. This data, once recorded on the blockchain, becomes immutable, ensuring that subsequent transactions and transformations along the supply chain are traceable back to their origin.

This level of transparency instils trust among consumers who can access detailed information about the journey of their food from farm to table, including certifications, sustainability practices, and ethical standards.

Moreover, blockchain facilitates seamless and secure transactions throughout the supply chain, delays, and costs associated with traditional paper-based processes and intermediaries. Smart contracts, programmable agreements executed automatically when predefined conditions are met, streamline payment processes, facilitate real-time settlements, and ensure fair compensation for farmers based on agreed-upon terms such as quality standards, delivery timelines, and pricing mechanisms.

Also, it should be noted that the success of any agricultural innovation hinges not only on its technological prowess but also on its ability to scale impact and reach diverse stakeholders across the agricultural value chain. Scaling the impact of digital innovations in agriculture requires a multifaceted approach that addresses infrastructural challenges, fosters collaboration among stakeholders, promotes policy coherence, and ensures inclusive access to technology and knowledge.

At the core of scaling impact is the need for robust infrastructure, particularly in rural areas where agriculture thrives. Access to reliable electricity, internet connectivity, and digital infrastructure forms the backbone of digital agriculture initiatives. Collaborative efforts between government agencies, private sector partners, and development organizations are essential to bridge the digital divide and ensure that farmers in remote areas can harness the full potential of digital tools and platforms.

The convergence of digital innovation and agriculture in Nigeria represents not just a technological revolution, but a societal transformation towards sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food systems that nourish communities, empower farmers as stewards of the land, and safeguard the planet for future generations.

As NITDA continues to collaborate, innovate, and co-create solutions, the vision of a thriving, digitally empowered agricultural sector in Nigeria becomes not just an aspiration but a tangible reality poised to shape the future of food and prosperity in Nigeria and beyond.

Shuaib S. Agaka, a tech journalist, writes from PRNigeria Centre Kano

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With over 70 million arable land enough to feed not just Nigeria but Africa, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said that the Agency is willing to partner with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and relevant stakeholders to tackle food insecurity in Nigeria.

The Director General made this known while receiving representatives from USAID led by Josh Woodard Senior Digital Advisor Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security, at the Agency’s Corporate Headquarters in Abuja. The purpose of the visit was to have a rapid landscape assessment of digital agriculture in Nigeria and partner with NITDA.

Inuwa said, “One of President Tinubu’s areas of focus is boosting agriculture to achieve food security, and at NITDA we were set up to develop the National IT Policy, and IT policy is not just about developing IT but developing IT to boost productivity across all critical sectors including agriculture.”

“That is why we do a lot of initiatives in trying to see how we can build an agriculture Strategy with IT in mind and make it a more attractive business to the younger generation,” he added.

Inuwa stated that NITDA has identified six emerging technologies, that will aid in achieving food security in Nigeria. He said “We have an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy co-creation workshop going on, which started on Monday, where we are working with the ecosystem to develop a strategy on how to use AI in agriculture, health, education, and so on.

“We are working on how to use the Internet of Things, (IoT) in agriculture for crop monitoring, soil monitoring, precision irrigation, climate monitoring livestock monitoring, and so on.”

“We are working using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, (UAVs) to facilitate pest detection, water control, yield assessment, and so on.”

We are working on using Blockchain for the traceability of farm produce from farm to store, record keeping, quality assurance, and so on.”

“We are working on using Robotics to enhance productivity in agriculture in terms of automation of physical farm processing like weeding, harvesting, tractors, and many more.”

“For additive manufacturing, we are working on using it to upscale our manufacturing industry in the Agricultural sector for the production of crop and soil monitoring devices, customised equipment, and many more.”

Speaking on NITDA’s commitment to ensuring that Nigeria develops its digital offering in-country, Inuwa noted that the Nigeria Startup Portal was launched during the week with over 12,000 startups registered so far. He said they would be labelled after which they could have access to incentives.

Earlier Josh Woodard, USAID said that the meeting was to enable USAID to have first-hand information on what Nigeria is doing in digital farming to see how to enhance the integration of digital technology in agriculture.

He revealed that USAID recently launched the Global Food Security Strategy for Nigeria (2024 -2029) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

He said, “We want to work with all stakeholders to ensure food security in Nigeria.”

The meeting discussed the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) in relation to the success stories the initiative has recorded, the expansion strategy it is adopting and call on the USAID to be part of the initiatives.

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TECHDIGEST – The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina,  has identified the many ways that Nigeria can leverage technology to help boost food security and transparency.

He disclosed this while receiving an honorary doctorate, which was conferred on him at the 38th Founders’ Day and 30th convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology Minna, in Minna on Wednesday.

This was contained in a press statement published on AfDB’s website, and titled ‘AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina awarded an honorary doctoral degree at the Federal University of Technology Minna: Calls on graduating class to create a new, greater and dynamic Nigeria’.

Adesina was quoted in the statement as saying, “Technology drives the world. As Minister of Agriculture, I turned to the power of technology, mobile phones, to provide 15 million farmers with access to improved seeds and fertilizers, with a view to ending corruption in the sector.”

“It was revolutionary – the first, not only in Africa but in the world. It helped Nigeria produce a record additional 21 million metric tons of food. It boosted food security and expanded wealth for farmers, from the northeast, northwest, north-central, southwest, east, and south-south of the country. It brought transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.”

The statement also read, “Several Nigerian Fintech entrepreneurs are already using tech to deliver digital payment systems with three of Nigeria’s fintech (Interswitch, Pay Pal, and Flutterwave) reaching the $1 billion mark. Adesina said African Fintechs raised $1.4 billion in 2019, three times what was raised in 2019, and in 2021 they raised about $5bn.”

Adesina further emphasized the key roles of technology for enhancing security systems, military reconnaissance and intelligence, satellite imagery, and remote sensing to track the effects of climate change, artificial intelligence, alongside drones to deliver agricultural inputs and medical supplies to remote locations.

Adesina also stressed that cognitive robots would become a part of office and industrial spaces in the future.

He was quoted as saying, “Cognitive robots now power industrial manufacturing. In the very near future, due to machine learning and artificial intelligence, your colleagues in the office or industry will not be just Musa, Emeka, Yetunde, or Ada, but Yekini Jones or Bobo – the robots. They will even wear caps or head ties.

“Through facial recognition, Yekini and Bobo the robots will greet you every morning, saying “Hello Musa, Emeka, Yetunde, and Ada. And you will say, “Hello Yekini, Hello Bobo. Let’s roll.”

It was also stated that the AfDB was preparing the youth of Africa to lead in the new digital economy, as the Bank provided $170m to Nigeria to help drive its i-DICE initiative that will help expand the digital industry and grow jobs in the creative industries.

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