Synergos Nigeria, an agriculture transformation supporting group, says it will soon establish an agriculture information centre for farmers in Benue, Kogi and Kaduna states in collaboration with the Civil Innovation Lab, a co-NGO.
The Country Director of Synergos, Mr Adewale Ajadi, made the disclosure at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
Ajadi said that the aim of the project was to provide stakeholders with one-stop database on agricultural produce, to facilitate and encourage investments in the sub-sector.
Ajadi, represented by Victor Adejoh, Synergos Field Manager, stressed the need for investors, marketers and exporters of agricultural produce to have a more reliable, single-point contact through the centre to boost business.
“The aim is to ensure that we are able to showcase what kind of market exists in the three states to the world.
“If you look at other sectors like oil today, you can be in New York and get information on geological data in another continent. We want agriculture in Nigeria to be like that.
“We want people to sit down in the comfort of their homes and access what Nigeria has, in terms of crops that can be exported.
“At least, we want to cover all the value chains so that whatever crop we have, we hope that with time, we will be able to export them to earn foreign exchange,’’ he said.
Contributing, Akpan Abraham of the Civic Innovation Lab, said that the NGO aimed to solve the farmers’ social problems through technology.
Abraham said that the technological outfit was partnering with Synergos Nigeria, by deploying solutions across board for farmers in the three states being used as pilot states.
“The platform will be user-friendly. If you are from the North and want to interact with the software, it gives you information in your local language.
“Like in Benue, we are focusing on the Tiv, Idoma and other languages, commonly used there.
“There are so much technological advancement that the youth there explore because modern farming has advanced beyond hoes and cutlasses. (NAN)
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/04/12/news/afdb-earmarks-200m-to-aid-600000-african-farmers/
