The Federal Government, in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), is producing a digital registrar that would identify farmers, their farmlands, type of soil, and the crops they grow for targeted services. Such vital information and the National Identification Number (NIN) are to be integrated into a multipurpose identity card that farmers can use to access financial services, inputs and other forms of government assistance by harmonising farmers’ data across all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
At the national launch of the Policy Dialogue Initiative on the National Digital Farmers Registry (NDFR) in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, said the new system would address the issue of portfolio farmers, saying they are “farmers who have no farm. We are going to register farmers and their farms. Not only that, farmers and the type of crop they grow, farmers and the locality they are, the type of soil they have on their farms. There is no farm that will not have a farmer. But there are many farmers, who do not have farms. This is an encompassing package”.
“When we register these farmers, we are going to provide a physical and digital card for them. With the card, many things can be done by the farmers. It can be used as a means of identification, an asset to some gateway, just anything. It is going to have a handshake with the database of the country, such that with that particular card, the farmer can enter any place and get things done. He or she can redeem inputs and even get a loan, depending on the financial entity”, he added. To accomplish this, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security had taken decisive steps to transform their approach to farmer data management, adding that “Chief among these is our strategic partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to implement a far-reaching farmer registration and database project. At the heart of this initiative is the integration of the NIN”.
The Country Director and Representative of the IFAD in Nigeria, Mrs. Dede Ekoue, said the United Nations (UN) organisation was proud to be part of the initiative on the National Digital Farmer Registry in Nigeria. “Our role is to convene all the partners, development partners from the public sector, private sector and the international community to put our resources together to support the effort of the government in establishing and enabling a digital farmer registry for the country”, she said. Ekoue disclosed that although there were previous efforts to have a national database of farmers, it had the issues of fragmentation and sustainability.
The Country Director said the IFAD was happy to bring together the private sector and different ministries, departments and agencies, adding, “It will be a game changer for having a strong, updated and sustainable national digital farmer registry”. The Country Director of Heifer International in Nigeria, Dr. Lekan Tobe, at the official launch of the Policy Dialogue Initiative on the National Digital Farmer Registry, stressed the critical role of partnership and data in transforming Nigeria’s agriculture sector. He stated that this initiative was born from recommendations of previous policy dialogues, and organised in collaboration with the Federal Government in bid to scale up innovative digital technology to enhance food systems across the country.
