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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Technology

Nigeria seals AI crop monitoring deal with Morocco, targets 15 states

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Official statement New plan
  • Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Morocco to deploy an AI-powered agricultural monitoring platform.
  • The platform will provide real-time data on agricultural land, crop distribution, production, and food security risks to Nigerian states.
  • The agreement emphasizes Nigeria's need to adopt and develop its own agricultural technologies adapted to its national conditions.

Nigeria is set to enhance its agricultural sector through a new Memorandum of Understanding signed with Morocco, focusing on the deployment of a satellite and artificial intelligence-powered agricultural monitoring platform. This initiative aims to equip Nigerian states and local governments with real-time data and intelligence concerning agricultural land, crop distribution, production performance, and emerging food security risks.

The problems we face should not define the limits of our ambition. They should inspire us to develop the technologies, institutions, and capabilities required to overcome them.

— Senator Ibrahim HadejiaEmphasizing Nigeria's proactive approach to agricultural challenges.

The agreement was signed by Nigeria's Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, on behalf of the Federal Government at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guerir, Morocco. He was joined by representatives from OCP Africa, a Morocco-based phosphate giant, and Ground Truth Analytics, a geospatial technology firm. This collaboration formally launches Nigeria's first satellite-powered national crop monitoring system, known as the National Agro-Productivity System (NAPS).

Agriculture is being transformed by data, precision agriculture, artificial intelligence and geospatial technologies. Nigeria must build the capability not only to adopt these innovations but also to continually improve them, adapt them to our own context, and develop solutions that respond to our national priorities.

— Senator Ibrahim HadejiaHighlighting the need for Nigeria to develop its own technological expertise in agriculture.

Senator Hadejia stressed the importance of innovation, stating, "The problems we face should not define the limits of our ambition. They should inspire us to develop the technologies, institutions, and capabilities required to overcome them." He highlighted that agriculture is being transformed by data, precision farming, AI, and geospatial technologies. Nigeria, he asserted, must not only adopt these innovations but also build its own capacity to improve and adapt them to its specific national context and priorities.

It will strengthen seasonal planning, agricultural investment, productivity monitoring and policy coordination by providing Federal and State Governments with timely, reliable, and actionable agricultural intelligence to support better decision-making.

— Senator Ibrahim HadejiaExplaining the benefits of the National Agro-Productivity System.

The NAPS platform is designed to provide federal and state governments with actionable agricultural intelligence for better decision-making. It will strengthen seasonal planning, agricultural investment, productivity monitoring, and policy coordination. Beyond technology deployment, the ambition behind NAPS is to foster Nigerian capability, ensuring solutions are adapted to local conditions, understood and managed by Nigerian institutions, supported by Nigerian expertise, and sustained through knowledge transfer and capacity development.

Our ambition goes beyond the deployment of technology. We seek to build a Nigerian capability that is adapted to our conditions, understood and managed by our institutions, supported by Nigerian expertise, and sustained through knowledge transfer, institutional capacity development, and continu

— Senator Ibrahim HadejiaStating the long-term goals of the National Agro-Productivity System.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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