By Ritika Sood, Partnerships Lead
Empowering the backbone of Nigerian agriculture – small-scale farmers is paramount for ensuring food security and driving economic growth.
In late October, the Sprout team held workshops in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, bringing together key players in agriculture, fintech, and government ministries. These collaborative gatherings served as a platform for valuable discussions around insights, challenges and solutions for agricultural in Nigeria.
The Sprout Workshops brought together many agricultural stakeholders including representatives from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Federal Department of Agriculture Extension, Mercy Corps AgriFin, and prominent Farmer Facing Organizations (FFOs) such as ThriveAgric, AgroMall Discovery & Extension Limited. Telecommunication agencies and other Non-Governmental Organizations in the Nigerian agricultural sector also actively participated.
Beyond fostering connections, the workshops shed light on critical observations. Participants emphasized a significant gap in agri-extension services and highlighted the importance of leveraging parastatal organizations for scalability. Sprout's Digital Weather Advisory Services (DWAS) emerged as a pressing need, with stakeholders urging assistance in organizing GPS coordinates for farmers associated with Sprout Ecosystem FFOs. Sprout also received authentic feedback that will significantly contribute to Sprout's product development roadmap and expansion strategy in the region.
A key highlight was the recognition of the potential of Nigeria's "Adopted Village Program" as a conduit for delivering agricultural e-extension services. The workshops also facilitated a meeting with government officials from the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), expressing eagerness to contribute as content contributors. In essence, these workshops not only identified challenges but also paved the way for collaborative solutions and future partnerships to uplift Nigeria's agricultural landscape.
