Nigeria is expanding the use of digital technology in agricultural extension, deploying more than 1,000 tablet-equipped agents and scaling mobile advisory services aimed at helping farmers access timely information on weather conditions, crop protection, and improved farming practices.
Agriculture and Food Security Minister Abubakar Kyari disclosed the development at the Africa Agribusiness Extension Summit 2026 in Abuja. Kyari said more than 100,000 farmers across six states currently receive weekly text messages on expected rainfall and measures to protect their crops. The service is being delivered through the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and private-sector partners.
The government is also rolling out a digital agricultural extension platform designed to provide farming advice through text messages and voice services in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin. The approach is intended to make agricultural information more accessible to farmers who may face language, connectivity or digital-literacy barriers.
According to the minister, more than 1,000 digital extension agents equipped with tablets have been deployed with support from the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF). He also said 774 agricultural desk officers were serving across the country's local government areas.
The initiative comes as Nigeria faces a significant shortage of agricultural advisory capacity relative to the number of farmers requiring support. Kyari said an extension agent may now be expected to serve between 5,000 and 10,000 farmers, compared with the historical ratio of approximately one agent to 1,000–1,500 farm households during the peak of the World Bank-backed Agricultural Development Projects.
Such a workload limits the ability of extension officers to visit individual farms, identify problems early and provide tailored advice. Digital tools could help bridge that gap by enabling agents to reach more farmers with weather alerts, agronomic recommendations and information about improved farming practices.
The National Agricultural Development Fund is separately implementing its Grassroots Digital Extension Corps initiative. Under the programme announced in July, NADF said it would train 1,110 agricultural extension agents and 774 food-security specialists nationwide. Participants who complete the programme are expected to receive tablets loaded with approved training materials and extension resources.
The training programme and the minister's reported deployment figures are related elements of the wider effort to strengthen extension services. Digital extension services can help farmers respond more quickly to changing weather conditions, pest outbreaks and crop-management challenges. However, their effectiveness depends on the quality of the advice, the reliability of delivery systems and the ability to connect farmers with specialists when problems require direct intervention.
At the summit, executives of Extension Africa led by Tajudeen Yahaya, argued for greater use of artificial intelligence and digital advisory tools. They highlighted the need for different agricultural platforms to work together rather than operate as disconnected systems.
Extension Africa also unveiled the Iroko AI platform, which is designed to help farmers access advice through interactive voice-response systems and applications, with options to escalate complex questions to extension officers through existing helplines and agricultural development structures.
The government is also pursuing stronger coordination among agricultural institutions. Kyari said the Ministry was working towards a common framework for extension initiatives, while officials at the summit highlighted efforts to advance an agricultural extension bill before the National Assembly.
These institutional measures will be important if digital services are to become a sustained part of Nigeria's agricultural infrastructure rather than a collection of separate projects.
NBF Insight
Nigeria's digital extension rollout addresses a critical weakness in the country's food-production system: the gap between agricultural knowledge and its practical application on farms.
Access to improved seeds, fertilisers and other inputs does not automatically translate into higher yields. Farmers also need reliable information on when to plant, how to manage soil nutrients, how to identify crop diseases and how to respond to changing weather conditions. Digital advisory services can help deliver that knowledge at greater scale and lower cost than relying exclusively on physical farm visits.
However, the number of agents deployed and farmers receiving messages will not, on their own, demonstrate success. The more meaningful measures will be whether farmers act on the advice, whether crop losses decline, whether productivity improves, and whether smallholders in remote communities can access the services consistently.
For Nigeria, the next challenge is to connect digital reach with measurable results in the field. Technology can extend the reach of agricultural expertise, but its ultimate value will be determined by what farmers are able to do with the information they receive.
