The federal government has concluded arrangement to introduce Phygital Value Chains technology to small holder farmers in the country as part of efforts to further mechanise agriculture and boost the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the current administration,
At a well attended event by key Stakeholders in the sector and officials of the Ministry recently, Manobi Incorporation Ltd, in a presentation explained that phygital smallholder chains technology is an inclusive digital solution aimed at targeting and securing agriculture through intelligence targeting and activation inside smallholder value chain of AgCelerant physical ecosystems that provides geo-reference real time performance monitoring for the realtime agricultural production.
It also fosters the development of an innovative rural job market through franchise agent networks that nurtures agricultural business development services.
Other advantages of the innovation, Manobi said will is expose participants to novel value chain that orchestrates initiative that monitors smallholder field real time, reduce investment risks in transforming the global food chain and allow equitable inclusion of bottom-of-pyramid producers into structured markets that will ease their access to farm inputs, and funding.
The Permanent Secretary in the Agric Ministry observed that development in agriculture can better be attained if small holder farmers can be integrated into the nucleus of agricultural plan such that small holder farmers can find their rightful place in agriculture. He further said it imperative that small holder farmers hat there is the need to embrace the new system tas it will expose hat willexpose them to value chain orchestrated initiatives based on advance phygital ecosystems that would transform Nigerian Agriculture.
“We have to provide small farmers access to easy, accessible and affordable capital support, extension services, the knowledge he will need to evolve his farming skills from subsistence to commercial farming”.
“What Nigerian farmers need most is access to finance. The main reason we have low return of loan repayment of agricultural loan in the country is that 90 percent of those who took the loans are not real farmers. We have to make sure that the people who are enjoying these credits from the financial institutions are real productive farmers”.
The Director, Research and Development of Manobi, Dr Pierre Sibiry Traore in his presentation said his Manobi aims to add value to the agricultural sector by providing an inclusive solutions to optimize the efficiency and performance of value chains in Agriculture. He explained that the phygitalization of agriculture will place the producer and consumer at the centre of a global village, where local agricultural practices, social and traditional values are leveraged to redefine the global food industry.
Dr. Traore, explained that phygital agriculture has two initiatives, the AgCelerant and Nurturing Africa’s Digital Revolution for Agriculture (NADRA) components. He added that AgCelerant is a value chain orchestrated platform that helps linkd small holders farmers to financial services, insurers, input providers and agro industries by providing them with technical supports and help to meet production target.
He observed that going by the country’s size, the innovation if adopted will enable Nigeria attain its potential as a major producer and exporter of food and cash products