General News
ICTs Set to Transform Smallholder Farming
Smallholder farming, which is the backbone of many African economies, is set to be transformed by a combination of investment and increasing access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly mobile phones.
The claim was made Tuesday by Michael Hailu, director of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) at ICT4Ag, a major conference on ICTs in agriculture.
“On this continent, 65 per cent of the workforce is employed in agriculture and the sector generates 32 per cent of GDP. Smallholder farmers, mostly women, produce 80 per cent of Africa’s food. African countries spend up to $50 billion a year on food imports. With abundant land, water and cheap labour, there is no good reason why Africa should import so much food.
“Yet there’s good reason to be optimistic. After years of neglect, governments and the private sector are increasing investments in agriculture. Nevertheless, to achieve its full potential, smallholder agriculture must be transformed from a subsistence activity to a profitable, sustainable business. ICTs play a vital role in this transformation. They provide timely advice and information. They help farmers increase productivity. They make markets more efficient. And they increase incomes along the value chain”.
The CTA Director said, “the phenomenal growth in the number of mobile phone subscribers in Africa in recent years shows that change was on the way. In 2000, there were just 16.5 million mobile subscriptions in Africa. Now, there are over 650 million. Indeed, the number of people on the continent with access to mobile phones exceeds the number with access to clean water, electricity or a bank account”.
Mr Hailu was speaking at ´ICT4Ag: The Digital Springboard for Inclusive Agriculture´ Conference, which is being organised by CTA, the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and the Ministry of Youth and ICTs (MYICT).
The conference is taking place in Rwanda, a country where 80 per cent of the working population are employed in agriculture but where the government of President Paul Kagame has also invested heavily in agriculture and ICTs as part of its ‘Vision 2020’ agenda to turn Rwanda into a middle-income country.
Last week, the Rwandan Government announced that a new network will provide high-speed broadband access to 95 per cent of the country’s population within three years.
Rwandan ministers attending the conference shared the upbeat mood. Dr. Agnes Matilda Kalibata, Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, reminded the audience of the significance of agriculture in poverty reduction: “Agriculture is a low hanging fruit for poverty reduction. With 40 – 65% employment in this sector in ACP Countries, any investment will have a huge impact on the economy”.
She also emphasized the importance of ICT in transforming agriculture.
“Rwanda has committed to transforming the country through ICT. Information and communication technologies (ICTs), social media, Web 2.0 and mobile applications are changing the face of agriculture and rural development in many countries. The use of mobile devices is transforming the communication landscape through dissemination and sharing, and is changing the way we do business. This conference presents an opportunity for participants, Rwandans in particular, to harness the use of ICTs in agriculture and is very much in line with the national vision of making Rwanda an ICT hub in the near future”.
Participants at the ICT4Ag conference – including agricultural experts, farmers, young innovators, ICT companies and government officials – are focussing their attention on improvements to agriculture that can be brought about by technological innovation, capacity building and creating enabling policies and infrastructure.
Key issues for discussion are the role of youth and the encouragement of entrepreneurship; the inclusion of farmers in decision-making, information and crowdsourcing; and connectivity.
The Hon Jean Philbert Nsengimana, minister of Youth and ICT of Rwanda, said: “This day is a culmination of more than 10 years of consistent investments in ICT4D policy and strategy formulation, infrastructure development, mobile penetration, education and value added services development in parallel with agriculture modernisation efforts”.
Ambassador Valentine Rugwabiza, CEO of the Rwanda Development Board, also a Cabinet member, highlighted the synergies between ICT and investment and also emphasised that indeed ICT is only a tool whose importance will be derived from how well it is used.
Michael Hailu stressed, however, that a major part of the key to securing the potential benefits of ICTs and investment in African agriculture was likely to be the extent to which countries are successful in harnessing the creative input of two key sectors: young entrepreneurs and women.
“Access to ICTs is not uniform”, he said, “and there is a digital divide. There is a significant gender imbalance, with men having better access to ICTs than women. And rural areas are significantly underserved compared to cities”.
He described the importance of young people as “pivotal”.
“Young people have the greatest aptitude for using ICTs, whether it’s to communicate or develop new apps to improve agricultural productivity or access faraway markets. Africa’s youth must therefore play a pivotal role in the transformation of smallholder agriculture.
“ICTs – in particular mobile devices – have opened up unprecedented opportunities for agricultural and rural development. This development can offer a bright future for millions of women and men who derive their livelihood from farming and other forms of rural employment. Farmers, even in the remotest locations, can easily and readily access vital information on weather, market prices, pests and diseases as well as input prices.
“It is not just about linking farmers to markets or creating employment opportunities for young people. Social media also provide a platform for rural communities to contribute to policy-making”.
More than 500 participants from 63 countries, including from Caribbean and Pacific islands, are attending the conference.
Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi, director general and chief executive officer, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), has advocated Franchising as a sustainable business model for the South East entrepreneurs.
Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi, DG/CEO, NOTAP
She made this call during a one-day sensitization and unveiling of the NOTAP Franchising Guidelines for south east stakeholders and entrepreneurs for a successful franchising business.
The DG who was represented at the event by Mr. Emeka Orji, head of Department Corporate Planning (CP) Department, NOTAP, said that franchising business model had globally been proven to be successfully sustainable due to low business risks associated with it.
She defines franchising as a contractual business relationship between a licensor (the franchisor) and a licensee (the franchisee) that allows the business owner to use the licensor’s brand and methods of doing business to distribute products or provide services to consumers.
She added that in essence, the franchisee pays the franchisor for the opportunity to use his established business model and brand name in running his business.
Dr. Amadiobi said the essence of the workshop was not just organised to explore the possibility of adopting franchising as a strategic platform to transform local dreams into national and global business realities.
She described the programme as an opportunity for business owners and intending entrepreneurs from the Zone to latch into the huge and untapped potentials provided by franchising business models in becoming business and brand ambassadors.
With over 800,000 franchise establishments across the globe, generating trillions in revenue, she described Franchising as a pathway to economic empowerment.
General News
FG Launches Online Citizenship, Business Management Portal to Enhance Transparency, Service Delivery
The Federal Government has launched a new Online Citizenship and Business Management Platform, in a bid to boost transparency, operational efficiency, and service delivery. The initiative, unveiled by the Ministry of Interior, is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The platform is designed to simplify and accelerate the processing of citizenship and business-related services, allowing individuals and corporate entities to carry out transactions seamlessly from anywhere in the world.
According to a statement issued by Magdalene Ajani, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, the digital platform represents a significant milestone in the Ministry’s ongoing reform agenda.
It noted that the new system would drastically reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks, enhance user experience, and improve turnaround time for applications. “The Ministry is committed to promoting a more efficient, transparent, and secure framework for citizenship administration.
“This digital transformation is a testament to our resolve to improve public service delivery through the use of technology”, the statement reads.
Members of the public, private organisations, and other stakeholders can now access the platform through the Ministry’s official website: https://interior.gov.ng, or directly via the portal: https://candb.interior.gov.ng. For technical support or inquiries, users can contact: candb-support@interior.gov.ng.
The Ministry emphasised that the launch of this platform is just one of several digital initiatives aimed at transforming the nation’s administrative processes and aligning them with global best practices.
Observers believe the platform could become a game-changer in reducing red tape and promoting a more investor-friendly environment in Nigeria, particularly in areas involving citizenship acquisition and business operations.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said that the 18 community IT centre the agency has built in the past two years are meant to be a beacon of calls and catalyst of change in those communities where they are cited.
He sated this at the commissioning/handing over of IT centre at Akesan area in Lagos. He noted that the IT centres, Innovation hubs among others are part of digital literacy programme of the agency.
“This center is designed and build to help Akesan community to be part of the digital economy, because the President is big and loud when it comes to national prosperity and inclusivity.
“Our target is to build more than 1600 across the country. We want every community every Nigerian to be part of this national prosperity and inclusivity when it comes to digital economy.
“Today, we are here to commission it, to ensure and encourage you to put it in a good use, because we call it a community center means that we want everybody to be part of it. We don’t want it to be suited in a school where the school will lock it for only students and the staff.
“That’s why we located it in the community. Schools can be part of it. Our senior citizens can be part of it. Our religious centers also can be part of it to learn.
“We want it to be a beacon of call as well as a catalyst of change in this community. We want to see more information technology gurus coming from Akesan community. So, I want to encourage you to also come with a sustainability model so that the center will be on. It is on because when you invest in this kind of infrastructure, we don’t want to be called when there are small things that we should come and fix it. That’s why we are handing it over to the community so that the community can put it in a good use. The community can find a way to make it self-sustaining,” he said.
Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, the NITDA Community Centre in Lagos, a space that is more than just a building. It is a strategic extension of our national mission – a bridge between the Federal Government’s digital economy policies and the unmatched energy, ingenuity, and innovation that Lagos represents.
The minister who was represented by Mr. Johnson Bareyei, director, e-governmance in the ministry, added that his ministry is committed to promoting inclusivity through capacity building initiatives like the 3MTT programme.
“We are also developing the National Digital Economy & e-Governance Bill, which is a robust legislative framework that will help guide our everyday engagement online.
“Our work at the Ministry also includes Project BRIDGE, our ambitious effort to improve interconnectivity by deploying 90,000km of fibre-optic cable across Nigeria. This is a critical imperative as we work towards making Nigeria a $1trillion economy powered by innovation, infrastructure, and inclusive growth,” he said.
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