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Ogun State, IITA, and Partners strengthen collaboration to advance digital agriculture through OGFIMS
December 9, 2025
Left to Right: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Kehinde Jokotoye; the Honorable Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Bolu Owotomo; Honorable Commissioner for Finance/Chief Economic Adviser/OGSTEP PSC Chairman, Dapo Okubadejo; and OGSTEP Project Coordinator, Ms. Mosun Owo-Odusi, at the OGFIMS project review meeting.
Left to Right: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Kehinde Jokotoye; the Honorable Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Bolu Owotomo; Honorable Commissioner for Finance/Chief Economic Adviser/OGSTEP PSC Chairman, Dapo Okubadejo; and OGSTEP Project Coordinator, Ms. Mosun Owo-Odusi, at the OGFIMS project review meeting.
IITA–CGIAR hosted the Ogun State Farmers Information Management System (OGFIMS) Project Review Meeting and Team Retreat at its headquarters from 23 to 25 October. The event brought together the project implementation team, key stakeholders from the Ogun State Government, and the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP), sponsored by the World Bank, to assess progress and reinforce collaboration toward achieving digital agricultural transformation in Ogun State. The OGFIMS is a digital farmer and VCA registry and platform that supports digital extension, market linkages, and online interactive features, enabling farmers to connect directly with service providers, off-takers, and value chain development firms. This system is designed to strengthen agribusiness growth and improve the livelihoods of farmers in Ogun State. The OGFIMS project lead at IITA, Dr Lava Kumar, while giving an update on project development, also highlighted the genesis of the project, starting with a bidding process to act as a technical consultant for the development of a digital farmer registry in 2021, and subsequent expansion of the scope to make OGFIMS a multi-modular platform. Besides the development of the OGFIMS, the project also established the OGFIMS control room at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Abeokuta.
IITA representatives, Ogun State/OGFIMS representatives and participants of the review meeting.
IITA representatives, Ogun State/OGFIMS representatives and participants of the review meeting.
He said “co-creation” as a central plank of implementation, with frequent interaction with OGSTEP and Ministry Representatives to ensure user-centric fit-for-purpose design. He also mentioned that the approach used for digital registration was effective and ensured broad coverage in a short time. The Honorable Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security of Ogun State, Bolu Owotomo, described OGFIMS as a dependable tool for communicating with farmers and a veritable source of data on their activities, which supports government interventions. He revealed that the platform has already registered more than 160,000 farmers and agricultural value-chain actors across the State, serving as a strategic tool supporting the state’s goal on enhancing food production and improving farmers’ livelihoods. He added that a platform of this kind is first in Nigeria. Welcoming the visiting team, IITA West Africa Hub Director, Professor Michael Abberton, IITA Deputy Director General, Corporate Services, Hilde Koper, and Head of IITA’s Project Development Unit, Kayode Awobajo, commended the Ogun State Government for prioritizing digital transformation in agriculture. They reaffirmed IITA’s commitment to supporting data-driven systems that empower smallholder farmers.
The OGFIMS project lead at IITA, Dr Lava Kumar, giving an update on the project development during the review meeting.
The OGFIMS project lead at IITA, Dr Lava Kumar, giving an update on the project development during the review meeting.
Representing the Ogun State delegation, OGSTEP Project Coordinator Mosun Owo-Odusi reiterated the government’s vision to modernize agricultural value chains, extension services, and strengthen digital delivery through OGFIMS. She stated that OGFIMS is one of the key initiatives of the economic transformation agenda. Dr Oluseyi Olugbire, Agriculture Manager, OGSTEP, lauded the team effort in ensuring the progress of this interdisciplinary project. An innovation showcase featured cutting-edge IITA technologies being scaled in Nigeria and across Africa under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), and Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP) initiatives. These innovations include improved crop varieties, strengthening of the seed system, site-specific agronomy, soil fertility management, integrated pest management, value addition, and digital solutions for agricultural transformation. The OGFIMS review sessions featured presentations by Dr Kumar, Owo-Odusi, and Commissioner Owotomo, who highlighted project milestones and farmer-centered innovations. Demonstrations of self-registration, e-extension, e-marketing, and weather advisory services were led by IITA Digital Media and Web Manager, Tunde Ajayi; Mobile App features were demonstrated by IITA IT Infrastructure Associate, Busayo Ogunya; and Communication Features were displayed by Lydia Olufunmilola and Hector Igboko. A high-level panel discussion examined how OGFIMS can enhance data-driven decision-making, extension delivery, and farmer services. Panellists included Honorable Commissioner for Finance/Chief Economic Adviser/OGSTEP Project Steering Committee Chairman, Dapo Okubadejo; Commissioner Owotomo; Special Adviser to the Governor on ICT, Dayo Abiodun; Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Angel-Adelaja Kuye; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Jokotoye Kehinde; and Owo-Odusi. Group discussions also explored sustainability, funding, expansion, and integration with Ogun State’s broader digital infrastructure. A roundtable session showcased complementary innovations to strengthen OGFIMS outcomes, including improved, high-yielding crop varieties by Head of Breeding, Dr Hapson Mushoriwa; cassava varieties for food and processing by Cassava Breeding Program Lead, Dr Ismail Rabbi; technical support to SAPZ by Product Manager, Dr Dean Muungani; remote sensing for crop mapping and weather alerts by GIS Support Services Manager, and Alabi Tunrayo; AKILIMO: site-specific digital agronomy advisor by Akinniyi Olufemi. The meeting also showcased the achievements of another OGSTEP project, “cassava value chain development,” led by Prof. Lateef Sanni and 2025 Africa Food Prize Winner, Dr Mercy Diebiru-Ojo of IITA. Participants also toured IITA’s Germplasm Health, Virology and Diagnostics Unit, the Genetic Resource Center (GRC), and the Semi-Autotrophic Hydroponics (SAH) Facility, where innovations such as the Seed Tracker were demonstrated. In an interview, Honorable Okubadejo commended IITA’s role in supporting the OGFIMS project, describing it as “a unique platform, the first of its kind in Nigeria.” He emphasized that the system enables the government to measure impact across value chains and identify appropriate interventions. “Continued collaboration with IITA is important, and we have already identified areas for further engagement,” he said. The workshop concluded with agreement on next steps, including institutionalizing OGFIMS for performance measurement, capacity building for farmers to adopt improved varieties, leveraging remote sensing for crop mapping and weather advisories, and preparing for the public launch of OGFIMS. Through this partnership, Ogun State and IITA are positioning digital agriculture as a cornerstone for improving productivity, farmer incomes, and agribusiness growth; setting a model for other regions in Africa to emulate. The workshop that attracted the senior executes from the Ogun State government, OGSTEP and IITA served as a strategic retreat providing an opportunity to reflect on how digital tools can drive agricultural development, enhance service delivery, and leverage complementary strengths to amplify impact for farmers and agribusinesses in the state Contributed by Ochuwa Favour Daramola

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Olaosebikan, Olamide

Olamide Deborah Nwanze is a Senior Research Associate specializing in gender mainstreaming research to inform participatory and inclusive breeding, variety development, and seed systems policies regarding root, tuber, and banana (RTB) crops in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Headquarters, Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Ibadan and holds an MSc and B. Agric in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development. Olamide is a fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development – Gender Responsive Agricultural Systems Policy (AWARD-GRASP) and the Gender Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT). She seeks to apply her gender-mainstreaming learnings, gender-responsive research, and policy development, and review expertise to facilitate women, youth, children, and vulnerable social group’s access to and adoption of agricultural Innovations that guarantee food, nutrition, income, and livelihood security in Africa. Her current roles include mentoring research fellows, development of guides and training manuals, implementation and adaptation of gender frameworks and tools, value chain actors’ engagement as citizen science partners, policy review and redesign, data management, and analysis. Her current research explores mixed methods and participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to capture and highlight gender dynamics, needs, preferences, and challenges stakeholders face within the agricultural livelihood value chain to prioritize gender-inclusive strategies in breeding programs, policy design, and implementation.

At IITA, she contributes to the implementation of the CGIAR Accelerated Breeding Initiative and Genetic Innovation Programs; participatory and gender research within the NextGen Cassava, HarvestPlus, RTBFoods, and Tricot-ClimMob 1000Farms Projects; and gender knowledge communication via the G-LENS webinar series, video documentary, policy briefs, publications, and blogs.

 

Recent publications

de Sousa, K., van Etten, J., Manners, R. Bello, A., Teeken, B., Olaosebikan, O., et al. 2024. The tricot approach: an agile framework for decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science. A retrospective. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 44, 8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-023-00937-1

Madu, T., Onwuka, S., Nwafor, S., Onyemauwa, N., Ejechi, M., Ofoeze, M., Ukeje, B., Eluagu, C., Olaosebikan, O., Okoye, B., 2024. Gender-Inclusive Consumer Studies Improve Cassava Breeding in Nigeria in: Frontiers in Sociology, volume 9, number: 1224504, doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1224504

Olaosebikan, O.; Bello, A.; Utoblo, O.; Okoye, B.; Olutegbe, N.; Garner, E.; Teeken, B.; Bryan, E.; Forsythe, L.; Cole, S.; Madu, T. 2023.  Stressors and Resilience within the Cassava Value Chain in Nigeria: Preferred Cassava Variety Traits and Response Strategies of Men and Women to Inform Breeding. Sustainability 15, 7837. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107837

Okoye, B., Ofoeze, M., Ejechi, M., Onwuka, S., Nwafor, S., Onyemauwa, N., Ukeje, B., Eluagu, C., Obidiegwu, J.*, Olaosebikan, O., Madu, T.* 2023. Prioritizing preferred traits in the yam value chain in Nigeria: a gender situation analysis in: Frontiers in Sociology, volume 8, number: 1232626, pages 1 – 9, ISSN 2297-7775, 2023. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1232626/full

Olaosebikan, O., Bello, A. A., de Sousa, K., Ndjouenkeu, R., Adesokan, M., Alamu, E. O., Agbona, A., van Etten, J., Kegah, F. N.*, Dufour, D., Bouniol, A., Teeken, B. 2023. Consumer acceptability of cassava gari-eba food products across cultural and environmental settings using the triadic comparison of technologies approach (tricot) in: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture,

Teeken, B., Olaosebikan, O., Bello, A. A., Madu, T.*, Cole, S. M. 2023. Qualitative assessment on the positionality and preferences of dyads in relation to cassava-related activities: working with tricot trial citizen scientists https://hdl.handle.net/10568/138326 Type: Manual

Bouniol, A., Ceballos, H., Bello, A. A., Teeken, B., Olaosebikan, O., Owoade, D., Agbona, A., Fotso Kuate, A., Madu, T.*, Okoye, B.*, Ofoeze, M.*, Nwafor, S.*, Onyemauwa, N.*, Adinsi, L.*, Forsythe, L., Dufour, D. 2023. Varietal impact on women’s labour, workload and related drudgery in processing root, tuber and banana crops: focus on cassava in sub-Saharan Africa in: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, pages 1 – 25, ISSN 0022-5142,

Bello, A. A., Agbona, A., Olaosebikan, O., Edughaen, G., Dufour, D., Bouniol, A., Iluebbey, P., Ndjouenkeu, R.*, Rabbi, I. Y., Teeken, B. 2023. Genetic and environmental effects on processing productivity and food product yield: drudgery of women’s work in: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, pages 1 – 32, ISSN 0022-5142, 5

Cavicchioli, M., Zimbiti, T., Teeken, B., Nwanze, D.O., Liani, M., Parkes, E. & Bello, A. 2023. IITA-Gender Responsive Breeding Training Report. Genetic Resources Center, IITA-HQ, Ibadan, 21-23 September, 2022. Ibadan, Nigeria: IITA, (34 p.).https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131368

Agbona, A. Peteti P., Teeken B., Olaosebikan O. Bello, A. A., Parkes, E., Rabbi, I. Y., Mueller, L., Egesi, C., Kulakow, P. 2022. Data Management in Multi-disciplinary African RTB Crop Breeding Programs. In: Williamson, H.F., Leonelli, S. (eds) Towards Responsible Plant Data Linkage: Data Challenges for Agricultural Research and Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13276-6_5

Lora Forsythe, Pricilla Marimo, Sarah Mayanja, Olamide D. Olaosebikan, Esme Stuart, Bela Teeken, Benjamin Okoye, Tessy Madu, (2021). Cross-product Gender Analysis of RTBfoods Step 2 Gendered Food Mapping on RTB Products. Understanding the Drivers of Trait Preferences and the Development of Multi-user RTB Product Profiles, WP1. London, UK: RTBfoods Field Scientific Report, 30 p.

Teeken, B., Garner, E., Agbona, A., Balogun, I., Olaosebikan, O., Bello, A., Madu, T., Okoye, B., Egesi, C., Kulakow, P. and Tufan, H.A. 2021. Beyond “Women’s Traits”: Exploring How Gender, Social Difference, and Household Characteristics Influence Trait Preferences. Frontiers Sustainable Food Systems 5:740926. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.740926

Teeken, B., Agbona, A., Bello, A., Olaosebikan, O., Alamu, E., Adesokan, M., Awoyale, W., Madu, T., Okoye, B., Chijioke, U., Owoade, D., Okoro, M., Bouniol, A., Dufour, D., Hershey, C., Rabbi, I., Maziya‐Dixon, B., Egesi, C., Tufan, H. and Kulakow, P. (020. Understanding cassava varietal preferences through pairwise ranking of gari‐eba and fufu prepared by local farmer–processors. Int J Food Sci Technol. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.14862

Bela Teeken, Olamide Olaosebikan, Ireti Balogun, Benjamin Okoye, Tessy Madu, Steven Cole, Abolore Bello, Elizabeth Parkes. (2020). Piloting the G+ customer and product profile tools for gender-responsive cassava breeding in Nigeria. Nigeria: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/13000