The Institute of International Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says the use of Information and Communication Technologies for agricultural services can boost the profits derived by farmers from agricultural activities.
The institute, in a statement said it had been at the forefront of using ICT for research management and knowledge sharing, including extension, scaling out, e-learning, collaboration, and agricultural services enhancement.
According to IITA, ICT have fast emerged as frontline tools for transforming agricultural systems in sub-Saharan Africa.
It noted that governments, developmental organizations, and the donor community were increasingly depending on ICTs to unleash the potential of rural economies and bridge agricultural value chains for enhanced profitability.
READ ALSO: Nigeria Has 500,000 Metric Tonnes Rice Production Gap
According to the Director, Development and Delivery, Alfred Dixon, “IITA believes that sharing and delivery of knowledge and products for adoption by intended end-users using digital platforms are critical to achieve research and development outcomes.
He further stated that the use of ICT tools to facilitate awareness creation, promote behavioural change among knowledge users such as farmers or processors, and facilitate the adoption of technologies could contribute to the success of delivery efforts.
He noted that IITA had used ICTs for precision agriculture, digitalisation of the research process, knowledge sharing, and service delivery through tailor-made digital tools, data repositories, and web platforms.
According to him, many of these developments emanated from various research for development projects and are designed to fit the project purpose with scope for broader applications.
IITA said it held two workshops where digital tools developed by the institute were introduced to extension workers, media, and collaborators working in the same digital space and agricultural solutions or topics.
Lava Kumar, who also leads the Working Group on Digital Delivery in IITA, said the workshops emphasised the need to integrate and coordinate such efforts as it provides IITA the leverage to showcase its expertise and experiences in this field, among several other benefits.
