IITA and the Ogun Ministry of Agriculture met recently to discuss a #digital agriculture project that involves co-creating a digital agricultural information system platform, registering about 100,000 smallholder farmers, and undertaking a baseline survey among farmers.
An IITA delegation from the Digital Delivery Working Group led by Lava Kumar, Head of the Germplasm Health Unit & Virology and co-lead of the Working Group, with Alfred Dixon, Director of the Development and Delivery Office, visited the Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture to discuss details of the project.
Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture, Honorable Dr Adeola Odedina, and his counterpart team received the IITA contingent in his office in Abeokuta, Ogun State, to sign the contract on the engagement, meet the team members, and discuss project details.
The joint digital agriculture initiative is part of the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) funded by the World Bank.
Agriculture plays a major economic role in Ogun State and provides income and employment for about 70% of the labor force while contributing 30% of the State’s GDP. To further increase productivity, improve competitiveness, and meet the growing demand from the agri-food sector, OGSTEP will support smallholder farmers by improving production efficiency and performance of the value chains concerning food crops, horticulture, and livestock.
OGSTEP, in line with the Ogun State Development Plan 2017‒2030 (SDP), planned to accelerate strategic reforms and foster public investments to enable greater private sector participation in the State’s economy. To support this mission, the Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture planned the development of the “Ogun State Farmers Information Management System (OGFIMS)” as a comprehensive digital system to register farms and farmers for designing and implementing various intervention programs in the State.
Odedina emphasized the importance of the digital platform for the agricultural transformation agenda. The Ogun State team, including OGSTEP Project Coordinator Dr Mosun Owo-Odusi, OGSTEP Project Manager Dr Oluseyi Olugbire, Chairman of the Agricultural Commissioner’s Advisory Board Prof. Kolawole Adebayo, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture Mr Dotun Shoronke, and Director of Planning Research and Statistics Mr Siraj Fashola, discussed the development and sustainable operation of the OGFIMS to support the State’s mission. They were joined by the M&E team, Dr Abiodun Adeeko and Mr Opeyemi Adejuwon
IITA has been appointed the lead partner to assist the Ministry of Agriculture in developing OGFIMS. Through this support, IITA will field a multidisciplinary team comprising software and hardware developers, data management experts, GIS, and a communication specialist to co-develop OGFIMS, including its establishment, developing protocols for registration of at least 100,000 farmers in OGFIMS, technology transfer, and capacity development for sustainable operation of OGFIMS by the Ministry.
Kumar stated that IITA brings in the unique experience of working with agricultural value chains to establish a fit-for-purpose digital platform that meets the requirements of all the stakeholders and serves as a one-stop place for vital information necessary for planning and implementation of development programs.
Head of IITA-Abuja Station and Leader of the BASICS-II program, Prof. Lateef Sanni, indicated that locally recruited teams would majorly participate in farmer registration using the OGFIMS tools.
The OGFIMS is expected to operate in the third quarter of 2022.
The IITA delegation included Head of Communication Katherine Lopez, Head of Project Development and Administration Unit Kayode Awobajo, GIS Support Services Manager Tunrayo Alabi, Institutional Data Manager Olatunbosun Obileye, Web Lead and Developer Tunde Ajayi, and IT Specialist Busayo Ogunya.
Contributed by Katherine Lopez
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