Initiative Signs Partnership To Boost Application Of Agricultural Technology
By Ene Okwanihe, Abuja
The Nigerian Women for Agricultural Progressive and Development Initiative (NWAPDI) has signed a partnership with an American based company Norcom LLC on Agricultural technologies that would help women and youths engage in better agricultural practices.
The partnership would build the capacity of women and youth across the country in the areas of mechanisation, post harvest loses, packaging, processing and also help create farmers data base.
Speaking at an MoU signing event on the partnership in Abuja Nigeria’s Capital, the National Coordinator NWAPDI Farmer Omolara Svensson said the technology Norcom LLC is bringing in would go a long way in helping Nigeria achieve food sustainability.
“So they have the technology you know and we have the farming system that we all obviously have to move up again, step up again with the use of technology in order for us to actually achieve food sustainability and security.
“This would not only help us have enough to consume as a nation but then we can then talk about processing and export of commodities”.
She said there is so much the youths in agricultural value chain need to learn in terms of agricultural digitalization and the partnership with Norcom will be a win-win thing for Nigerian farmers.
On the issue of accurate Farmer data in Nigeria, Svensson noted that for proper planning there’s need for accurate Farmer data which is one of the issues the partnership would help tackle.
“One of the problems that we’re facing really in Nigeria is first of all controlling, maintaining and owning our data, that is one of our biggest problems in this industry and the second problem that we all are facing is post-production waste so these are the two top most issues that we’ll be working on, okay how many are we? who are we? where are we? what’s the size of farmlands we have? what’s the produce we are actually producing? you know putting technologies in place that would help to track all of this and then how can we reduce the post-production waste which is actually a lot”.
She further disclosed that implementation of the partnership activities would commence with the celebration of the 2024 World Food Day come October 16.
On his part, the President of Norcom LLC Mr. Dion Croom who joined the meeting online said the partnership is about training youth on how to sustain themselves with use of the technologies at their disposal.
“The key element is how you sustain yourself. This is not about being sustained in some organization outside of Nigeria. We’re in there to help NWAPDI to stand on their own two feet, to own their data”.
“We’re just going to show them how to do that, the importance of doing that, and how that will benefit women and youth inside of Nigeria. Like I said, we’re not coming in with an end-all solution, it’s a partnership. We’re just able to bring resources in to help them, bring understanding, bring education, so that you are able to stand on your own two feet”.
According him, the partnership is about empowering women and youth in Nigeria.
Norcom LLC is an international technology and consulting firm specializing in digital solutions for emerging markets.
Oyenike Oyeniyi
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