ibironkeeniola 
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has announced it plans to commence a job creation scheme that will provide 130 farmers each with a seed funding of up to N100,000 each.
NITDA in a statement said the project, National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA), will be supervised by the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.
The agency explained that Project NAVSA was initiated in line with the Federal Government’s drive to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
The project, scheduled to start with 130 farmers in Jigawa State, will last from July 1st to 13th, 2020.
The agency noted that farmers across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas will be engaged under the programme.
Speaking further, the agency said the project will open a digital platform where the agriculture key players will be able to access important information.
The information will help them upscale their productivity, reduce the cost of production and facilitate access to markets, both locally and internationally, it said.
Farmers will also be provided with smart devices (tablets), connectivity for data and calls, and digital ‘agripreneurship’ skills.
They will also be enrolled with telecom operators and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for identification.
“NAVSA Platform is aimed at digitalising agriculture to drive the digital economy as part of President Buhari’s agenda to leverage technology and innovation to revolutionise the agriculture value chain,” the statement read in part.
Beneficiaries farmers are expected to build sustainable and digital business models that will create a minimum of six million well-paying jobs in the next 10 years, NITDA further said.
President Muhammadu Buhari during his Democracy Day Speech on June 12 this year had underscored the role of a digital economy to the country’s development agenda.
“Digital Economy continues to play an important role in our development agenda as we move into the age of Artificial Intelligence,” the commander-in-chief noted.
SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA