‘Tech vital to profitable farming, food security’
Nigeria must urgently embrace data-driven agriculture if it hopes to transform farming into a profitable business, strengthen food security and build resilience against climate change, Senator Anthony Okorie Ani has said.
The senator, who represents Ebonyi South Senatorial District, said the future of agriculture lies not in relying on guesswork, inherited farming traditions or seasonal luck, but in equipping farmers with timely information, digital advisory services and climate intelligence that enable better decisions throughout the agricultural value chain.
Speaking at the maiden Public Lecture Series organised by the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, Ani said millions of farmers continue to lose income because they lack access to reliable agricultural information, weather forecasts and digital extension services.
The lecture, themed “From Farming with Hope to Farming with Information: The Role of Digital Agricultural Extension in Nigeria,” was delivered on his behalf by his Executive Assistant, Dr. Ogbonnaya Aja.
According to the senator, information has become one of the most valuable inputs in modern agriculture, ranking alongside land, seeds and fertiliser in determining farm productivity and profitability.
“What farmers need today is an integrated agricultural intelligence system that provides real-time weather information, crop diagnostics, market intelligence and advisory services in languages they understand,” Ani said.
“Data is no longer optional. It is the engine driving productive, resilient and sustainable agriculture. When farmers have access to accurate information, they make better decisions, reduce losses, increase yields and improve their incomes.”
His remarks come amid growing global evidence that digital agriculture is becoming indispensable for improving food production.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has consistently identified digital technologies—including precision agriculture, climate information systems and mobile advisory platforms—as critical tools for increasing productivity, reducing production risks and improving market access for smallholder farmers.
Ani illustrated the transformative power of information by comparing the experiences of two fictional farmers.He described Musa, a maize farmer in Kaduna State, who plants based solely on traditional knowledge that advises farmers to sow after the first heavy rains. “Last season, a prolonged dry spell shortly after planting destroyed nearly 40 per cent of his crop.In contrast, Ngozi, a cassava farmer in Ebonyi State, receives early weather alerts on her mobile phone warning of delayed rainfall, plants drought-tolerant crop varieties, consults fellow farmers through digital platforms and uses mobile technology to obtain rapid diagnoses of crop diseases.The difference between Musa and Ngozi is information.And the tool for delivering that information is digital agricultural extension,” Ani told participants.
The senator said the conventional extension service has become overstretched, leaving millions of farmers without technical guidance. He noted that the ratio of extension workers to farmers now ranges between one officer for every 5,000 to 10,000 farmers, reaching as high as one to 25,000 in some parts of the country—far above the internationally recommended benchmark of one extension worker to about 500 farmers. Ani pointed to several digital initiatives already changing agricultural advisory services across the country, including the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s National Electronic Extension Platform, the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria’s digital technology transfer platforms and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s Enhanced National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative.
