Digital technologies have the potential to revolutionise agriculture by helping farmers work more precisely, efficiently and sustainably.

Digital technologies are promoted as transformational for smallholders in Nigeria and other developing countries through the potential to enhance access to knowledge, increase productivity and food security. Digital technologies speed improvements in food systems while reducing environmental impacts. By adopting digital agriculture technologies, smallholder farmers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can gain ready access to data, expertise, finance, inputs and other resources to increase productivity, quality, business management practices, incomes and resilience.

Digital technologies also have the potential to offer consumers greater transparency as to how their food is produced. They offer opportunities to renew business models in value chains by connecting producers and consumers in innovative ways. Beyond farming, digital technologies are key for making rural communities more attractive, smart and sustainable as well as for reducing problems related to remoteness and improving access to services.

Data from each plot can be analyzed to provide information on soil, weather, and crop growth patterns to give actionable geographically relevant timely insights to prevent losses and optimize the productivity of each plot on the farm.

Farmers can even get their queries solved and manage the supply chain directly through applications on their phones. Through pre-harvest and post-harvest management of farms, digital farming aims to take over all the aspects of farming from farm to fork. Digital farmer services can also be integrated into platforms that generate a steady stream of insights that allow public- and private-sector initiatives to greatly improve their efficacy and efficiency.

Digital services can provide new options in the public and private sectors and ensure that subsistence producers can more reliably transition to earning a stable income. Among other things, these services can provide farmers with detailed insights into local soil conditions and crop performance, expand access to financial services and market opportunities, and provide technical support for farm planning and field operations.

ARDD’s goal is to offer a wide array of digital solutions that create value for stakeholders across the agricultural ecosystem, and help us to feed 220 million people around Nigeria. Our research makes use of the latest technologies, such as real-time nitrogen sensors and other hardware to optimize nitrogen use decisions, data science, analytics, and crop and soil dynamic modeling, artificial intelligence and machine learning, automation of application and farm operations and personalized digital platforms.

ARDD undertakes research and innovation activities laying the ground for digitalised and data-empowered Nigerian agriculture and rural areas.

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