The Minister of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has charged Nigerian farmers to prepare to adopt digital and technologically driven agriculture practices that will enhance food production and food security.
Tijani, who noted the nation’s huge population and farming practice, emphatically declared that there was no way Nigeria would produce enough food to feed her citizens without the introduction of technology; a kind of marriage of agriculture with technology that will revolutionise farming to guarantee food security, job creation and increased income.
He said these would also drive food prices down and curb needless foreign exchange wastage on imported food grains that could be produced locally without marriage between agriculture and technology.
The minister spoke yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during an ‘Innovation and Startups Roundtable’ session he held with youths, technology entrepreneurs, and solution providers at the Ogun Tech Community.
Noting that the country is blessed with fertile and arable land, Tijani urged farmers to leverage on technology to boost food production by introducing technology into farming practice, noting that Ukraine would not have been able to hold on this long in the conflict with Russia if the country was not a major producers of grains using technology.
According to him, technology can significantly improve farming productivity in the country via tools such as mobile apps, sensors, and drones, among others. These tools provide farmers with timely information on farming practices, crop monitoring, pest control, soil changes, intruders, etc., to make informed decisions that lead to quality yields and profitability.
Earlier, during his visit to his alma mata at the Anglican Grammar School, Onikolobo, Abeokuta, the minister unveiled a variety of annual scholarship packages personally instituted by himself for 88 students of the school. In addition, he adopted a block of classrooms and the science laboratory for a 100 per cent renovation.
While addressing students at the school, Tijani unveiled a prize tag of N100,000, with a laptop each for the top three (3) students at every level of the Junior Secondary class (JSS)1 to 3 and their seniors in the SSS classes 1 to the terminal class of SSS 3.
This is in addition to clothing 70 others with newly sewn school uniforms yearly.
“We have also adopted one of the story buildings. We will furnish and equip it with a Smart Board in all the classrooms. In the same vein, we have also adopted the Science Lab for a 100 per cent renovation to ensure it is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.”
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