The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mal. Kashifu Inuwa has posited that digitising the processes for smallholder farmers would not only boost productivity but increase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $ 67 billion from $477 billion.
This is even as he disclosed that smallholder farmers are producing an estimated 90% of the country’s food and contributing 21% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $477 billion.
“We believe that rejuvenating the agricultural sector by digitising all its processes for smallholder farmers through initiatives developed by the government would not only boost productivity but increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $67billion,” the NITDA DG said.
Speaking 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 recently, Mal. Inuwa noted that priority in terms of technology penetration should be given to the agricultural sector.
Buttressing the importance of technology on agricultural productivity, the NITDA DG added that Nigeria in terms of land size is almost 22 times larger than the Netherlands but in terms of production, the Netherlands is the second largest agricultural producer in the world because of its use of technology.
“We have implemented that initiative in six states in collaboration with different institutions, including academia, fintech and telco companies and we have established a platform that provides a marketplace for the participants as well as connects them with financial institutions,” he added..
The Policy Dialogue Session which with the theme: “Deepening Partnership for Scale-up of Information & Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) for Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria is aimed at fostering partnership among the relevant players in the ecosystem to scale solutions for farmers in enhancing productivity.