The Federal Government has introduced the National Electronic Extension Platform (NEEP) to strengthen agricultural service delivery for Nigerian farmers.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, stated this at the National Agricultural Research Extension summit on Wednesday in Abuja.
NEEP is a digital-based platform designed to enhance and work effectively with the National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) and other relevant institutions in the agricultural extension sector.
The summit, themed “Sustainable Agricultural Extension Service Delivery in Nigeria: The Role of Digital Technology,” focused on leveraging digital tools to enhance agricultural services.
The Minister stated that NEEP would help address the low extension agent-to-farmer ratio and further strengthen agricultural service delivery nationwide.
Benefits of NEEP for farmers and stakeholders
According to him, farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector will have access to good and impactful agricultural information on a real-time basis.
“The platform is interactive, cost-effective, and mitigates the security risks associated with traditional extension service delivery, deliberations at the summit will fine-tune strategies and efforts towards the effective onboarding of NEEP for the usage of Nigerian citizens,” he added.
Abdullahi said one of the major mandates of the ministry was to ensure food security, adding that this could be achieved by promoting various programmes and schemes that would enhance farmers’ production and productivity of the present administration’s priority value chains and segments.
“The advent of technology continues to complement the speedy realization of this mandate hence the need for this summit,” he said.
According to him, the ministry has deployed technologies to improve labor productivity through the distribution of tractors for land preparation, planting, and harvesting.
Digital technology as a key driver in agriculture
Also speaking, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said that the role of digital technology was very relevant.
He said digital technology is expected to x-ray all the tools and capabilities that digital technology could provide to boost and revolutionise agricultural extension service delivery in the country.
“We all know that extension service in our country has recorded low achievements over time.
” These could easily be traced back to the different periods where a variety of extension methods and approaches were adopted by government, where funding and the use of certain technologies played pivotal roles,” he said.
He said that with adequate funding and effective deployment of digital technology as encapsulated in the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) 2022-2027, greater results could be achieved.
More Insight
Prof. Garba Sharubutu, Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) emphasized the importance of the Summit, noting that the introduction of the digital initiative would herald a new epoch in knowledge dissemination, real-time farmer support, and evidence-based decision-making.
“To us, extension simply means taking information from research institutes or our location and delivering developed technologies right to the doorstep of the target population which are the farmers.
“The goal is to produce more food, ensure healthy food, and sustain livelihoods in terms of economic fertility and sustainability in the country,” he said.
Earlier, Dr. Deola-Tayo Lordbanjou, Director of the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension Service, stated that the department’s mission is to ensure increased productivity among Nigerian farmers nationwide.
“Today’s summit is a reassurance of our commitment to the realization of these mandates and mission to our nation.
“We are pleased to introduce and soft-launch the NEEP as our additional effort to consolidate the delivery of our mandates to our nation,” he said.
According to him, NEEP will help improve the extension agent-to-farmer ratio, minimize the security risks faced by Extension Agents (EAs), and ensure cost-effective and timely agricultural extension service delivery.
