Experts in the agricultural sector have said that Nigeria will only experience its agricultural revolution when technology and collaboration are adopted to boost farmers’ productivity.
The experts, who spoke during the Agro Money Initiative, organised by Cash Your Passion Africa, express optimism that with innovation and collaborations in the sector, agriculture will drive the country’s economic growth.
“If we must achieve agricultural revolution, farmers need to adopt technology and innovation,” Babatope Dare, executive director, Inlaks said.
“Technology and innovation hold great promise in boosting agric productivity and resilience in a sustainable way,” Dare said.
He stated that the sector is evolving and that lack innovation is fast slowing the growth that would have been recorded in the sector.
Nigeria is populated by 190 million people who must be fed with staple foods ranging from yams, rice, cassava to beans, bananas and tomatoes.
However, there is still much demand-supply gap in most of the staple foods, even as the population growth rate stands at 3.2 percent per annum.
The experts say that for Nigeria to attain high level of food sufficiency and reduce dependency on food imports, it has to adopt technology and innovation in its food production.
Available statistics show that Nigeria is one of the least mechanised farming countries in the world with the country’s tractor density put at 0.27 hp/ hectare which is far below the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s 1.5hp/hectare recommended tractor density.
Also speaking during the event, Onyeka Akuma, founder and chief executive officer, Framcrowdy said that with collaboration farmers will be empowered to boost their productivity.
Akuma noted that businesses achieve more when they collaborate, while highlighting ways Farmcrowdy is collaborating with farmers to increase their yield per hectare.
He urged youths to take advantage of the opportunities across the value chains by addressing challenge limiting players in the sector.
“We need to start creating solutions to the problems other people complain about,” Akuma said.
Bridget Okonofua, president, Unique Women In Agriculture Cluster Initiative (UWIACI) said that since agriculture is becoming more vibrant, technology and innovation are inevitable.
“If we do not get into smart farming through the adoption of agriculture, we will not attain our food security target,” Okonofua said.
Speaking on how farmers can leverage finance, Gbenga Awe, group head-agric finance, Heritage Bank Plc said that lack of technology has made it complex for financial institutions to properly evaluate production, thereby making it difficult for banks to finance smallholder farmers in the country.
Lynda Omerekpe founder and CEO of Cash Passion, Africa and convener of the Agro Money said that the initiative is to foster empowerment for young people through agriculture.
She stated that the initiative is helping youths identify the opportunities in various value chains and training them in agriculture as well as mentoring.
The event which also had three agropreneurs pitched their business for grant to scale up.
The pitched competition was won by Krixto Bax Limited, a poultry business.
Josephine Okojie
