The deployment of emerging technologies in agriculture would drive youth
inclusion into the sector, experts have said.According to experts at
the Agritech Youth Empowerment session of the...
on-going Social Media Week
(SMW), Lagos, with new technologies, the agriculture sector can be
adequately reformed.
Consultant to Ogun State Governor on Agriculture, Angel Adelaja-Kuye,
said for many countries, agriculture is a go-to sector for active youth
engagement and onward investment, especially with the integration of
emerging technologies.
“I am an Agritech promoter and will want to see more young people
driving agriculture through technology,” adding that “The sector is a
gold mine that our youths need to delve into as it offers a lot of
career opportunities.”
According to Adelaja-Kuye, the sector is an area young people should
key into, noting that Africa’s next billionaires were going to be from
the agricultural sector.She said Agrictech was the fastest growing
sector when it comes to investment finance, noting that small holder
farmers can also buy into agribusiness using simpler technologies not
necessarily high tech to boost their produce.
Talking on digital agriculture, Digital Farming Project Lead at Bayer
Middle Africa Ltd., Segun Oworu, described agriculture as the frontier
for human survival in the face of dwindling resources and increasing
population.Oworu examined that developed countries such as Brazil,
U.S. and Europe were spearheading the race for digital agriculture and
data-driven agribusiness.
“Digital agriculture refers to tools that collect, store, analyse and
share economic data or information along the agricultural value chain
before and after farm production.
“In the race for digital agriculture, we as Nigerians and Africans
need to know and identify our comparative advantage and focus rather
than competing with developed economies.“This is based on the fact that
we have special needs and challenges that fraught our system and
economies,” Oworu said.He argued Nigeria’s food problem was not
necessarily increased production, but efficiency of the value chain
distribution and marketing.Oworu noted that by developing innovative
solutions and technologies to support shortfalls, the country could be
closer to attaining food self-sufficiency.
Head of AgriBusiness, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Wole Oshin, who noted
that farming was now moving away from the use of hoes and cutlass to the
age of emerging technologies, said Nigeria has potential, adding that
what the nation needed to do was use the right tools to drive agritech
business.
“The government has started deploying technologies to support
agricultural production. We are beginning to use emerging technologies
such as satellite monitoring devices that enables farmers to check the
progress of their crops without necessarily going to the farm.“Other
forms of technologies are also being developed to monitor and count the
number of birds and eggs at the poultry,” he said
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