By Nkechi Eze
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called for the development of integrated digital infrastructure to expand agricultural extension services and provide millions of Nigerian farmers with timely and reliable information.
The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, made the call at the Africa Agribusiness Extension Summit (AAES) 2026, organised by Extension Africa in partnership with NITDA in Abuja.
Represented by the Director of e-Government, Engr. Salisu Kaka, Inuwa said Nigeria could no longer rely solely on conventional face-to-face extension services to meet the needs of its growing farming population.
He said emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), could complement the existing extension workforce by connecting farmers with agricultural advisory services regardless of their location.
Inuwa stressed the need for an interconnected digital ecosystem rather than isolated platforms, identifying interoperability, scalability, security and reliable data as essential elements for effective digital agricultural services.
He also highlighted the potential of AI to analyse agricultural trends, provide recommendations and support early-warning systems that could enable farmers to respond more effectively to emerging threats.
Similarly, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, called for increased investment in digital agricultural extension services to modernise farming, improve productivity and strengthen food security.
Kyari said the conventional extension system had weakened over the years, with the ratio of farmers to extension agents increasing significantly in many areas.
He therefore advocated digital platforms capable of delivering weather alerts, market information, crop-disease advice and other agricultural information through mobile phones and other accessible channels.
The Minister stressed that digital solutions must be designed around the realities of farmers and should complement, rather than replace, conventional extension services.
He also called for greater investment by state governments, increased participation of young people and deliberate efforts to reach women farmers.
Kyari noted that improving productivity among millions of farmers would be critical to meeting Nigeria’s rising food demand, adding that better access to agricultural knowledge and advisory services could contribute to improved livelihoods and food security.
The Chief Executive Officer of Extension Africa, Tajudeen Yahaya, said the organisation was established to address 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 extension system, while calling for stronger collaboration among government, private-sector organisations, development partners and technology companies to address fragmentation in agricultural extension.
He said Extension Africa, established in 2021, had grown to about 7,000 extension workers across 16 states and reached more than one million farmers.
According to him, the summit was aimed at developing measurable benchmarks and practical solutions for strengthening Nigeria’s agricultural extension system through improved human capacity, reliable data, technology and sustainable partnerships.
