[ad_1]
Collins Nnabuife -Abuja
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) concluded the five days intensive training, which culminated in the adoption of another 75 smart farmers into the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) platform at the University of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The programme, which one of the goal is to build a sustainable digital platform that provides varieties of information for more than half of the agriculture ecosystem players in Nigeria to enable a highly-productive agribusiness economy, has since adopted almost 992 smart farmers and created thousands of direct and indirect jobs to Nigerians.
During a brief closing ceremony and presentation of digital tools and seed funding to the beneficiaries the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, who was represented by the team lead and Assistant Director, Digital Economy Development Department, Dr. Ayodele Bakare, restated that the programme is designed to help the farmers raise their efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability of their farm businesses through the adoption of digital technologies.
While giving the overview of the programmes, Inuwa disclosed that the programme was designed in two folds; to build the beneficiaries’ digital skill and literacy skills and to practically demonstrate to them how feasible it is to run a smart farm.
He said that the programme was initiated by NITDA to demonstrate that IT is an enabler of all other sectors of the economy, and if properly deployed and adopted by farmers, it would aid food production and security in the country, adding that the essence of the training is for the beneficiaries to be able to manage their smart farms and become self-reliance and self-employed.
The NITDA boss, while advising the beneficiaries to practice what they have learned throughout the period of the training and build on it, assured them that NITDA would continue to provide the necessary support should the need arises.
His words: “What we have done here is to whet your appetite and inspire you to optimize it beyond what NITDA has done for you. We expect you to maximize your business models by pulling resources together.
Dr. Bakare, however, called on the management to help the beneficiaries monitor and supervise the farms to ensure it is self-sustaining.
“We sincerely thank the Vice Chancellor, the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, and the entire staff for unfettered support to make this programme a reality. We believe it will spur you to expand the scope far above what NITDA has donated”.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Adebowale, who was represented by Professor Malachy Akporoga of the Soil Science Department, said, “the replica of what NITDA has done for the beneficiaries is to light their candles which he believes they would also light other people’s candles with it.”
“Most of you would leave this school and go out there to replicate what NITDA has done for you. NITDA cannot train all of you but they have found you worthy of the programme and I believe you also help them to train more people. When you start, others will follow”.
He noted that designing another approach to farming like NITDA has done would translate to food sufficiency as food is the most important need of man, adding that the adoption of digital technologies in Agriculture has justified that hoe and cutlass are not the end in Agric business but a means to an end.
The Don further enjoined the beneficiaries to start farming now because of the world’s situation, noting that anything planted now adds value to well-being. “Imagine the price of flour today because Ukraine is in a war situation, I call on you to go out there and become the Ukraine of Nigeria,” he admonished.
The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Professor Stella Odebowale, in her vote of thanks, expressed her appreciation to the Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, and the NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, for their foresight to inject digital technologies in farm practice saying that it would make agriculture attractive to the youths.
She assured that all the facilities would be used for the donated purpose. We assure you that we would ensure the sustainability of this program and monitor the devices given to our students to see that they were utilized for the purpose they were given.
The 75 beneficiaries were drawn from different Faculty of Agriculture and Computer Science departments.
Deborah Onuchi, one of the beneficiaries, expressed delight that with the adoption of digital technologies, farming practice has become seamless and enterprising with various opportunities because of the value chain inherent in it.
[ad_2]
