The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has stated that introducing digital technologies in Nigeria’s agricultural sector will boost productivity, fostering a notable increase in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Inuwa made this disclosure at the Policy Dialogue session in collaboration with the Office of the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at the Barcelona Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria.
The NITDA boss disclosed that with smallholder farmers producing an estimated 90% of the country’s food and contributing 21% to the GDP of $477 billion, digitization of the Agricultural sector, will significantly increase the GDP by $67 billion.
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The policy dialogue session, themed “Deepening Partnership for Scale-up of Information & Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) for Smallholder Farmers”, was held to bring together relevant stakeholders towards transforming critical sectors of the economy through digitization.
Inuwa disclosed that in a bid to transform Nigeria’s economy through digital innovation, President Bola Tinubu has directed the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy to accelerate Nigerian economic diversification by enhancing productivity in critical sectors through technological innovation.
Digitalization of the Agricultural sector across the globe has been proven to boost productivity and spur economic growth. With these cutting-edge technologies, it has brought about a minimized rate of post-harvest losses on the agricultural value chain.
This implies that the digitization of Nigeria’s agricultural sector will play a significant role in enhancing the nation’s GDP.
With digitization, it will enhance the transfer of information, majorly among smallholder farmers as it relates to market information. This is essential because farmers need real-time information dissemination for efficient agronomic practices. This can also assist in reducing production costs and risk, as farmers are authorized to make healthy decisions.
Also, the utilization of digital tools will increase the adoption of innovations by improving the ability of farmers to take up new challenges, as well as guarantee access to beneficial sales outlet for their farm produce.
According to several stakeholders, Nigeria has a booming supportive environment for agricultural digitalization. Therefore, efficient support of the digitalization of the agricultural sector in Nigeria will ameliorate the negative influence that has hampered its success. Digitalization can also enhance the ability of agricultural producers for poverty reduction and other livelihood improvements.
However, with the digitization of the Agricultural sector in Nigeria, smallholder Farmers will need more training on the utilization of digital tools for agricultural production.
There is a need for the creation of significant awareness of agricultural digitalization, especially through the institution of ICT hubs.