National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has engaged three federal universities in Nigeria to advance research and application of digital technology in farming to speed up actualization of the country’s food demand.
The move aims to promote the Federal Government’s initiatives on digital economy. The Director-General of NITDA, Mr. Kashifu Abdullahi, explained that plans have reached advance stage for collaboration with Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Federal University Dutse (FUD) and University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) for the pilot scheme.
Food security
“Deploying digital technology into agriculture will make farming a fanciful and attractive business for the youth, which will also culminate in providing more job opportunities and strengthen the country’s food security,” he said.
Abdullahi added that application of digitech in farming would reduce the quantity of water, fertiliser and labour required, as well as increase yield.
“With application of digital technology into farming, one hectare can yield higher than 10 hectares without similar technology,” he added.
According to him, NITDA is establishing Information Technology (IT) centres in the communities and institutions of learning across the country as well as providing training for Nigerians to operate in line with Federal Government’s policy on digital economy. Abdullahi explained further that NITDA is committed to collaborating with all stakeholders to achieve 95% digital literacy and 99% broadband coverage in the country by 2030.
