By Martin Ekpeke
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called for an interconnected digital ecosystem that will expand agricultural extension services and give millions of Nigerian farmers faster access to reliable information.
NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, made the call at the Africa Agribusiness Extension Summit (AAES) 2026, organised by Extension Africa in partnership with NITDA in Abuja.
Represented by the Director of e-Government, Engr. Salisu Kaka, Inuwa said Nigeria could no longer depend solely on traditional face-to-face extension services to meet the needs of a growing farming population.
He said emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), could complement the existing extension workforce by connecting farmers to agricultural advisory services irrespective of their location.
According to him, Nigeria’s priority should be to build an interconnected digital ecosystem rather than create isolated technology platforms that operate independently.
He identified interoperability, scalability, security and access to reliable data as critical requirements for effective digital agricultural services.
Inuwa also pointed to the potential of AI to analyse agricultural trends, generate recommendations and support early-warning systems that could help farmers respond more quickly to emerging threats.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, also called for increased investment in digital agricultural extension services as part of efforts to modernise farming, improve productivity and strengthen food security.
Kyari said Nigeria’s conventional extension system had weakened over the years, leaving many farmers with limited access to professional agricultural advice.
He advocated digital platforms capable of delivering weather alerts, market information, crop-disease advice and other critical information through mobile phones and other accessible channels.
However, the Minister stressed that technology must be built around the realities of farmers and should complement, rather than replace, conventional extension services.
He called for stronger investment by state governments, greater participation of young people and deliberate efforts to ensure women farmers are not left behind in the digital transformation of agriculture.
Kyari said improving productivity across Nigeria’s farming population would be critical to meeting rising food demand, adding that better access to knowledge and advisory services could improve farmers’ livelihoods and contribute to food security.
The Chief Executive Officer of Extension Africa, Tajudeen Yahaya, said the organisation was established to address gaps in Africa’s agricultural extension system and strengthen last-mile advisory services.
Yahaya identified people, data, technology and partnerships as the four key pillars needed to build a stronger extension ecosystem.
He urged government, private-sector organisations, development partners and technology companies to deepen collaboration and tackle fragmentation within agricultural extension services.
According to him, Extension Africa, established in 2021, has grown to about 7,000 extension workers across 16 states and reached more than one million farmers.
He said the summit was designed to develop measurable benchmarks and practical solutions for strengthening Nigeria’s agricultural extension system through better human capacity, reliable data, technology and sustainable partnerships.
The push for digital extension comes as Nigeria seeks to use technology to close the information gap between agricultural experts and farmers, particularly those in remote and underserved communities.