Economy
Digital Farming Can Tackle Nigeria’s Food Shortage
By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke
World food agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme have, on several occasions, raised an alarm over the looming and impending danger of food shortage in Nigeria. Both agencies, as of March 2018, said that it is possible for food shortage to affect 5.8 million Nigerians.
Despite the large expanse of land that cuts across the country from the North, South, East and West, it’s very shocking and rather sad that there’s not enough food to go round.
But then, this was not the case in the past. Agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy: groundnut pyramids from the north; cocoa from the west; and kola nut from the east.
In 1956, Nigeria struck something sweeter and juicier than agriculture. On that fateful day, in the village of Oloibiri, the country discovered oil and agriculture took a back seat.
The country literarily abdicated and abandoned every other sector for oil thus making the Nigerian economy a mono-product economy. From one oil boom to another, Nigeria was revelling in the pool of petrol dollars while agriculture that has the possibility of gainfully employing and feeding Nigerians took the backseat. Agriculture cried and cried for attention but was neglected. This is why some people have described oil as a ‘curse’ rather than a blessing to the country.
Now, agriculture is very frail and everyone including the government is running helter-skelter to revive it. And oil has lost its fanfare.
Interestingly, technology has a solution for almost every problem. In the case of agriculture, digital farming is the tech innovation being used to solve the Nigerian food crises. Digital farming or agriculture is the use of new and advanced technologies, integrated into one system, to enable farmers and other stakeholders within the agriculture value chain to improve food production.
How digital farming works
Technology as earlier said has a solution for almost everything. It simply depends on how you deploy it. For those who ‘hate’ farming, digital farming is perfect for you. And the story of digital farming is incomplete without referencing Farmcrowdy. Farmcrowdy can be described as the first digital farm in Nigeria.
With digital farming, you do not need to own a farm. You simply invest your money in any of the available farms advertised on the digital farm platform and at the end of the harvesting cycle, you get your return on investment plus interest. The reason why this works is that digital farm platform provides support for farmers to guarantee improved crop yield and preservation of harvest. This will, in turn, reduce food waste and increase food production.
The e-commerce is a foolproof business model that has been tried and tested by Jumia, Nigeria’s no 1 shopping destination and it has really been successful so far. As such, it is nonplus that the e-commerce business model is being replicated in other sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Can digital farming tackle food shortage in Nigeria?
Food shortage is a threat to Nigeria’s existence. This is not supposed to be the case in Nigeria because of the availability of large expanse of fertile lands. Thankfully, digital farming arrived and every Nigerian now has the opportunity to play a role in Agriculture even though they do not need to work on the farm. This is the real catch. Therefore, it is very possible for digital farming to tackle food shortage.
Digital farmers cannot do it alone. All stakeholders must come together to find a solution to the food shortage crises in Nigeria. For now, the digital farmers can only do as much.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Nigeria slightly surpassed its quota set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in July 2026.
In the month under review, the country produced about 1.57 million barrels of crude oil per day.
It was the third consecutive month Africa’s largest oil-producing nation was meeting its monthly quota, set to stabilise the price of the commodity on the global market by the oil cartel.
Data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednesday showed that the 1.5 million barrels per day ceiling for Nigeria was surpassed last month.
The agency disclosed in a statement today that the country produced 1.505mbpd of crude oil and 0.17mbpd of condensate, bringing the combined daily production to 1.67mbpd.
In the month under review, the daily peak production of crude oil and condensate was 1.78mbpd, while the lowest daily production was 1.57mbpd.
Although Nigeria met its OPEC quota in the month of July, the statistics show that on a month-on-month basis, production fell by 4 per cent.
This was attributed to the decline in production due to operational challenges experienced at the Erha and Akpo fields, which impacted crude oil output during the period under review.
These disruptions constrained production volumes and contributed significantly to the overall reduction in national crude oil output.
Despite the challenges, production operations across most other producing assets remained relatively stable, with operators implementing measures aimed at maintaining production efficiency and minimising the impact of operational constraints, NUPRC stated.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The over 9 billion shares of Lasaco Assurance Plc issued to shareholders of the company via a rights issue have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The equities were brought to Customs Street on Wednesday by the organisation, increasing its total issued and fully paid-up share capital.
Lasaco Assurance, which scaled the recapitalisation hurdle of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in July 2026, raised fresh capital from the capital market to shore up its capital base.
The underwriting firm got about N18.5 billion from the rights issue, which involved the issuance of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares at a unit price of N2.00.
The exercise was on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
Confirming the listing of the additional stocks of Lasaco Assurance today, the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of NGX RegCo, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, announced in a circular that, “Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Lasaco Assurance Plc were today, Wednesday, August 12, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares arose from the company’s rights issue of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N2.00 per share on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
“With the listing of the additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up share capital of Lasaco Assurance Plc has now increased from 11,083,585,855 to 20,319,907,401 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has said the successful recapitalisation of the insurance industry will strengthen the sector’s ability to support financial stability and economic growth.
NIA Chairman, Mrs Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, said a well-capitalised insurance industry would be better positioned to meet its obligations promptly, underwrite complex and large-scale risks and serve as a dependable pillar of the Nigerian economy.
She made the remarks while commending the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for its structured implementation of the new minimum capital requirements under the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.
Mrs Nwachukwu said NAICOM’s clear guidelines, systematic verification process, defined timelines and rigorous supervision had provided operators with a credible framework for navigating the recapitalisation exercise.
She described the outcome as a major milestone for the industry and congratulated the 43 insurance and reinsurance companies that have successfully met the prescribed minimum capital requirements.
According to her, the exercise represents “a major win not just for regulators and operators, but for policyholders, investors and the wider Nigerian economy.”
Mrs Nwachukwu said the association would continue to work with NAICOM and other stakeholders to consolidate the gains of the exercise, with emphasis on sustainable industry growth, stronger market conduct and improved consumer confidence.
The official also expressed solidarity with the eight companies still undergoing final verification and regulatory review, urging them to remain confident as NAICOM completes the process within the 14-day review period.
The NIA chairman assured policyholders and the wider business community that the insurance industry would emerge from the recapitalisation exercise stronger, more resilient and better positioned to contribute to Nigeria’s economic development.
