In a bid to position Agriculture as a business enterprise that can potentially attract youths and agripreneurs, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), under the supervision of Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, has commenced AgTechpreneurship training and Empowerment of farmers through its National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) initiative – a technology and innovation-driven agriculture initiative envisioned for the transformation of the agricultural sector in Nigeria, at the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State.
A statement by NITDA said “The NAVSA Programme is designed to support the Federal Government of Nigeria in its drive to create more jobs for the youthful population and attract them into agriculture; improve food productivity, ensure an eco-friendly agricultural practice, enhance and create value across the agriculture value chain through new business models and services while taking the people out of poverty and enabling economic growth and diversification.
“This year’s edition of NAVSA, in partnership with Agriculture institutions, is presenting a green energy-powered smart irrigation system to support a year-long production, smart brooding to improve the survival rate of broilers, and soil intelligence systems to support information-driven farming. NAVSA is designed as a data and ecosystem-driven platform that builds and connects agriculture ecosystem players across the agriculture value chain to position agriculture as a business for improved contribution to GDP and economic growth.
“This is to support the Federal Government in its drive of creating 10 million jobs while taking people out of poverty in the next 10 years.”