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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called for the development of integrated digital infrastructure to expand agricultural extension services and give millions of Nigerian farmers faster access to reliable agricultural information.
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The Agency said digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), could complement Nigeria’s conventional agricultural extension workforce and help overcome the growing gap between farmers and extension agents.
NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, made the call at the Africa Agribusiness Extension Summit (AAES) 2026, organised by Extension Africa in partnership with NITDA in Abuja.
Abdullahi was represented at the summit by NITDA’s Director of e-Government, Salisu Kaka.
NITDA Seeks Integrated Digital Agriculture Ecosystem
Abdullahi said Nigeria could no longer depend exclusively on conventional face-to-face extension services to meet the needs of the country’s expanding farming population.
He said emerging technologies, particularly AI, could complement existing extension personnel by connecting farmers to agricultural advisory services irrespective of their location.
Rather than developing disconnected digital platforms, he advocated an interconnected ecosystem capable of linking farmers, extension workers, government agencies, agricultural institutions and other stakeholders.
According to him, interoperability, scalability, security and reliable data would be critical to developing sustainable digital agricultural services.
The NITDA DG also highlighted the potential of AI to analyse agricultural trends, generate recommendations and support early-warning systems that could enable farmers to respond more effectively to emerging risks.
Digital Extension Services Key to Food Security
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, similarly called for increased investment in digital agricultural extension services as part of efforts to modernise farming, raise productivity and strengthen Nigeria’s food security.
Kyari noted that the country’s conventional agricultural 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 called for digital platforms capable of delivering critical information, including weather alerts, market intelligence, crop-disease information and other agricultural advice through mobile phones and other communication channels.
The Minister stressed, however, that technology should complement rather than replace conventional extension services.
Government Urged to Prioritise Farmers’ Realities
Kyari said digital agricultural solutions must be designed around the realities and needs of Nigerian farmers if they are to achieve widespread adoption and impact.
He also called for greater investment by state governments, stronger participation of young people in agriculture and deliberate measures to ensure that women farmers are not excluded from digital agricultural services.
According to him, improving productivity among millions of farmers will be critical to meeting Nigeria’s growing food demand, while better access to agricultural knowledge and advisory services could improve farmers’ livelihoods and contribute to national food security.
Extension Africa Pushes People, Data and Technology
The Chief Executive Officer of Extension Africa, Tajudeen Yahaya, said the organisation was established to address structural gaps in Africa’s agricultural extension system and strengthen last-mile advisory services.
Yahaya identified people, data, technology and partnerships as key pillars for building an effective and sustainable agricultural extension system.
He called for stronger collaboration among government institutions, private-sector organisations, development partners and technology companies to address fragmentation within agricultural extension services.
According to Yahaya, Extension Africa, established in 2021, has expanded its network to about 7,000 extension workers across 16 states and reached more than one million farmers.
Summit Targets Practical Solutions for Agricultural Extension
Yahaya said the AAES 2026 was designed to develop measurable benchmarks and practical solutions for strengthening Nigeria’s agricultural extension system.
The focus, he explained, includes improving human capacity, strengthening agricultural data systems, deploying appropriate technologies and developing sustainable partnerships capable of delivering advisory services to farmers at scale.
The summit’s discussions underscore the growing importance of digital technology in addressing Nigeria’s agricultural extension challenge, particularly as the country seeks to increase farm productivity, improve food security and connect farmers to timely information on markets, weather, crop health and emerging agricultural risks.
