By Saminu Ibrahim
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security have called for increased investment in digital agricultural extension services to improve farmers’ access to timely information and boost food production.
The 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.
Inuwa, who was represented by the Director of e-Government, Engr. Salisu Kaka, said Nigeria could no longer depend solely on conventional face-to-face extension services to meet the needs of its growing farming population.
He said emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), could complement the existing extension workforce by connecting farmers with advisory services irrespective of their location.
The NITDA boss stressed the need for an interconnected digital ecosystem rather than isolated platforms, identifying interoperability, scalability, security and reliable data as essential components of effective digital agricultural services.
He added that AI could analyse agricultural trends, provide recommendations and support early-warning systems to enable farmers to respond promptly to emerging threats.
Similarly, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, called for increased investment in digital agricultural extension services to modernise farming, improve productivity and strengthen food security.
Kyari said the conventional extension system had weakened over the years, resulting in a significant increase in the ratio of farmers to extension agents in many parts of the country.
He advocated digital platforms capable of delivering weather alerts, market information, crop disease advice and other agricultural information to farmers through mobile phones and other channels.
The minister, however, stressed that digital solutions must be designed around farmers’ realities and complement, rather than replace, conventional extension services.
He also called for greater investment by state governments, increased participation of young people and deliberate efforts to ensure that women farmers benefit from digital agricultural services.
Kyari said improving productivity among millions of farmers would be critical to meeting Nigeria’s rising food demand, adding that better access to agricultural knowledge and advisory services could improve livelihoods and strengthen 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 key pillars of an effective extension system.
He called for stronger collaboration among government, private-sector organisations, development partners and technology companies to tackle fragmentation in agricultural extension.
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 improved human capacity, reliable data, technology and sustainable partnerships.
