Nigeria’s widening gap between farmers and agricultural extension agents has heightened the need for digital technologies capable of delivering timely farming information and advisory services to millions of farmers across the country.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has consequently called for an integrated digital ecosystem that will complement conventional agricultural extension services and improve farmers’ access to critical information.
The Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, made the call at the Africa Agribusiness Extension Summit (AAES) 2026, organised by Extension Africa in partnership with NITDA in Abuja.
Inuwa, represented by the Director of e-Government, Engr. Salisu Kaka, said Nigeria could no longer depend exclusively on face-to-face extension services to meet the demands of its growing farming population.
He said emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), offered an opportunity to extend the reach of the existing workforce by connecting farmers with agricultural advisory services irrespective of their locations.
According to him, the priority should be to build an interconnected digital ecosystem rather than develop isolated platforms that operate independently.
He identified interoperability, scalability, security and access to reliable data as critical requirements for developing effective digital agricultural services.
Inuwa also pointed to the potential of AI to analyse agricultural trends, generate recommendations and support early-warning systems, enabling farmers to respond more effectively to emerging threats and changing conditions.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, also stressed the importance of increased investment in digital agricultural extension as part of efforts to modernise farming, raise productivity and strengthen Nigeria’s food security.
Kyari observed that the conventional extension system had weakened over the years, resulting in a significant increase in the number of farmers served by individual extension agents in many parts of the country.
He therefore advocated digital platforms capable of delivering weather alerts, market information, crop disease advisories and other critical agricultural information through mobile phones and other accessible channels.
The Minister, however, stressed that technology should complement rather than replace conventional extension services, noting that digital solutions must be designed around the realities and needs of farmers.
He further called for increased investment by state governments, greater participation of young people in agriculture and deliberate measures to ensure that women farmers are not excluded from emerging digital agricultural services.
Kyari said raising the productivity of millions of farmers would be essential to meeting Nigeria’s growing food demand, adding that improved access to agricultural knowledge and advisory services could enhance farmers’ livelihoods while contributing to national food security.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Extension Africa, Tajudeen Yahaya, said the organisation was established to address persistent gaps in Africa’s agricultural extension system and strengthen last-mile advisory services.
Yahaya identified people, data, technology and partnerships as the four critical pillars required to build a more effective and sustainable agricultural extension system.
He called for stronger collaboration among government agencies, private-sector organisations, development partners and technology companies to address fragmentation within the sector and expand access to extension services.
Yahaya disclosed that Extension Africa, established in 2021, had expanded its network to about 7,000 extension workers across 16 states and reached more than one million farmers.
He said the AAES 2026 was designed to develop measurable benchmarks and practical solutions for strengthening Nigeria’s agricultural extension system through improved human capacity, reliable data, technology deployment and sustainable partnerships.