The Akwa Ibom state government in partnership with El-kanis and Partners, a specialist company in digital technology have resolved to improve the state’s agricultural sector through the use of innovative digital technology.
Chief Executive Officer of the organization, Ekanikpong Ben disclosed this in Uyo yesterday during a courtesy call on the permanent secretary of the ministry of agriculture and food sufficiency.
He observed that most Nigerian farmers were unsuccessful due to ignorance and lack of requisite technology in farming, adding that over 70 per cent of farmers, mostly in rural communities lack access to improved agro- services, market credit and insurance, even when they have access to arable land, fresh water and other natural resources.
Ekanikpong explained that by partnering with the state government on the use of digital technology in agriculture, it will help to improve the agricultural sector in the state and country at large. He stated that the intervention of the organization in agriculture will position the state for optimum productivity in that area, as Akwa Ibom state will serve as a pilot state in the country for the project.
According to him, his organization and Fork, a leading block chain firm for food technology in Netherlands is working on deploying block chain technology to address issues of food traceability and safety in Nigeria, just as Fork will be working with Harvest plus on maize bio-fortification project.
He mentioned other areas of collaboration to include, organizing training for farmers on farming technology, leveraging on state government support to create visibility and validate El Kanis & Partners before the international development agencies for possible support in innovation, growth and funding.
He said the company will use its knowledge in crop health analytics for large farms with remote sensing on-board drone, win-win farmer-community-business solutions, El-kanis mobile switchboard, farmers’ local dialect interactive voice response platform, agricultural training and capacity building, as well as research and development for food safety, food security and sustainability.