Ogun advocates digital agriculture to boost food production

The Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Bolu Owotomo, has called for the deployment of digital agriculture to boost food production to meet rising global demand.
Owotomo made the call during an agricultural show to mark the 2024 Lisabi Festival, organised by the ministry in Abeokuta,
The show was themed ‘Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship in an Agribusiness: Panacea for Solving Youths Unemployment in Egbaland’.
According to Owotomo, digital agriculture has the potential to revolutionise agriculture, avert constraints associated with farming and make the sector more sustainable and resilient.
The commissioner said the innovation would make farming more attractive to youths who were the largest users of mobile phones and applications in Africa.
He added that it would make food production more profitable, less burdensome and an effective linkage between markets and consumers, saying, “The era of hoes and cutlasses way of agriculture is gone.”
He hinted that efforts were on to deepen financial inclusion and linkages among youth in agriculture, stressing that farming should be regarded as a business, to promote its value chain.
On his part, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, represented by Navy Captain Rasheed Raji (Rtd), enjoined youths and farmers to make judicious use of various interventions of the government aimed at improving food production and security.
According to the paramount ruler, the state is naturally blessed with fertile land.
In her remarks, the Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Alhaja Ganiyat Adeoye-Kushimo, commended the current administration in the state for its support, advising parents to see farming as a profitable investment and encourage their wards to venture into it.