State governments have been urged to partner with the Federal government on technology-driven initiatives aimed at improving the accuracy of farm production estimates in response to growing demand for timely and precise agricultural data. This call comes amid the need for better policy formulation, supply chain management, and food security measures.
Speaking with The Nation, Chief of Staff, OCP Africa, Caleb Usoh, noted that accurate farm production estimates are vital for government decisions on food distribution, import/export policies, and price stabilisation. These estimates, he noted, also would aid in resource allocation, risk management, and disaster response efforts.
With the Federal Government facing the challenge of guaranteeing food security, he implored states to collaborate with institutions specialising in agricultural technology to improve crop yield predictions. This collaboration includes using existing tools and developing new systems for more precise forecasting.
Increasing use of these technologies at the state level, he indicated, would help to make agriculture more resilient to challenges such as climate change, market volatility, and supply chain disruptions, leading to long-term improvements in productivity and sector growth.
He also argued for increased budgetary allocation to state governments rather than the federal government to develop agriculture and guarantee food security .
He contended that state governments, being closer to the grassroots level, are in a better position to identify the local needs and design agricultural policies that align with these conditions.
He continued that a more localised budget allocation allows for targeted investments in infrastructure, research, and development tailored to the state’s agricultural profile.
He noted: “Decentralisation of budgetary resources can lead to more effective implementation of agricultural policies. State governments can channel funds directly to farmers, agribusinesses, and local agricultural programs, reducing the bureaucratic bottlenecks that often accompany centralized federal systems. This allows for more efficient use of resources and can help increase food security faster.”
According to him, states can act as testing grounds for innovative agricultural techniques, crop varieties, and technologies that are better suited to local conditions. “With greater budget allocation, state governments could foster research and development initiatives, train local farmers, and encourage the adoption of more sustainable practices, directly benefiting food security.”
Towards improving food security across the country, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, has urged state governors to incorporate climate data into agricultural planning. The NGO highlighted that many agricultural interventions fail because states often neglect climate data and flood outlooks when making decisions. With the expected release of seasonal climate predictions from Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the flood outlook from the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) for this year, the NGO urges governments to engage with these agencies to tailor the data to local conditions and improve agricultural planning and decision-making.
The group’s Executive Secretary, Sulaimon Arigbabu urged state governors across the country to make use of climate data , if they are to make progress in agricultural development of their respective states.
Arigbabu lamented that interventions by state governments in agriculture are not yielding the desired results because most states plan such interventions without making use of climate data and flood outlook for the year.
He said, “We have realised that many times, when state governments make interventions in the area of agriculture, because they do not plan with climate data, because they do not work with flooding outlook for the year, some of these things become null and void.
“This is very sad because a lot of resources would have been put into some of these interventions. “By the end of January, NIMET is likely to release their 2025 seasonal climate predictions and the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency will also release their 2024 annual flood outlook.
He said, “We are asking state governments to reach out to NIMET and NIHSA, to work with the data these agencies will release. When NIMET releases annual forecast, they release forecastfor 10 days, seven days, three days and even some time daily, but first state governments need to approach these agencies to say, ‘please come and down scale these data for my state,’ because not every part of the country have the same peculiarities.
