By Adedapo Adesanya

If Nigeria is to drive for change in agriculture across Africa, then it is time to look at the utilization and application of digital technology, the Vice President of the country, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, has said.

According to Mr Osinbajo, who made this statement on Wednesday at the panel discussion session of the African Green Revolution (AFGR), being held at International Conference Centre, Accra, Ghana, the application of digital technology was the way forward for the continent.

The event, which holds between September 3 – 6 focusing on the theme Grow Digital: Leveraging Digital Transformation to Drive Sustainable Food Systems in Africa” has in attendance former UK Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair; Nigeria’s Vice President; President of Ghana, Mr Nana Akufo-Addo; Prime Minister of Rwanda, Mr Edouard Ngirente; AU Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Josefa Sacko; amongst others.

During the discussions, Mr Osinbajo disclosed that there were many companies in Nigeria that see potentials in agriculture and expressed the willingness of the Nigerian government to support them by keying into the agriculture space.

According to the Vice President, one of the big advantages of technology is collaboration, which is the major future of digital technology.

“What we found is that there is far more collaboration than before and there is far more transparency; you can see practically everything and anyone who is connected one way or the other and people learn faster because of a lot of collaboration.

“People can get online; find out what this company is doing; some companies are linking investors to farmers and it is so easy to find out what they are doing by simply going to their website.

“Some of the Fintech companies are also in that space helping to make payments; helping to do transactions and a lot of them are doing well just by building the space.

“The way it is going; frankly, I can’t see how it will not completely revolutionalise agriculture because practically everywhere that digital technology has touched; it completely revolutionalised.

“And I don’t think we have a choice; what we are going to see is that digital technology will change the face of agriculture in Africa,” he said.

The vice president speaking on ways that the country would utilize digitalization and agriculture said that digital technology was getting easier to manage especially with mobile payments and mobile platforms.

He noted that in Nigeria, there was a vast number of mobile internet participation claiming the country ranked high in terms of using mobile phones despite differences in educational background.

Setting the pace, Mr Osinbajo disclosed that the Nigerian government did a lot of cash transfer payments and payments to the most vulnerable through its alleviation programmes using mobile phones.

“So, I think it is actually getting easier; one of the advantages of digital technology is that if you are a digital native as they call them, you are able to learn faster.

“We are looking at the application of digital technology not just in agriculture but in our society and economy as a whole,’’ he said.

He further added that Nigeria was modernising farming through the application of digital agriculture.

On his part, President Akufo-Addo said that Ghana had modernised significantly in agriculture in recent years and the country was developing the capacity to feed the world via agriculture.

“We are looking at how to take advantage of the markets of the world for our agriculture.

“How to penetrate the markets of the world,’’ he said.

Prime Minister Ngirente of Rwanda, however, identified that many challenges faced the potential agriculture setting noting that scarcity of fertilizer, post-harvest losses among others as confronted agriculture on the continent.

He also added that digitalisation was part of agriculture reforms ongoing in Rwanda.

“Today, everyone who wants to invest in agriculture has internet.

“We have invested heavily in managing climate and we are involving the youths in agriculture and making the sector profitable,’’ he said.

Ms Sacko, on her part, commended the East African countries for doing very well in digital agriculture and called on other countries to strive more in that regard.

The AGRF presents a premier platform for African and global leaders from both the public and private sectors to advance policies, programmes and investments as well as harnessing agriculture in ensuring food security, increasing income and promoting economic development.