Nigeria will help Namibia’s agriculture sector grow. The statement was made by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which stated that it will assist the Republic of Namibia in improving current agriculture practices via the use of hi-tech advances.
In the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) project, Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of the NITDA, stated that the two countries are investigating all derivatives available in innovation and entrepreneurship.
“It is imperative for African countries to encourage “Made in Africa” products by exploring and exploiting opportunities provided by emerging technologies to build an enviable global market standard,” said Mr Kashifu.
The DG observed that Agriculture, which is one of the major sources of income in Namibia was one of the areas the Agency identified in which technology can be used as a game-changer. He stated that the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture, (NAVSA) was one of the initiatives of the NITDA that could help Namibia boost its productivity in Agriculture.
“This is an area where we can explore partnerships. We can get some startups who can develop solutions for you and on our part, also learn how you manage your agricultural business. NITDA has a yearly flagship programme called ‘e-Nigeria’, an international conference and exhibition programme where local start-ups are invited to showcase their products, and this year’s programme would be tagged ‘Digital Nigeria’ because of the evolution from electronic to digital system,” said Mr Kashifu.
“We are having a one-week Digital Nigeria International Conference and we are extending the invitation to you. You can bring people from Namibia to the conference to have a glimpse of our ecosystem where you will meet some of our startups, share ideas, challenges and see how we can use technology to grow our economy as a continent,” Abdullahi proposed.
The Director-General further disclosed that the Agency established the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics specifically for researching best ways to apply technologies in the Health, Agricultural and other sectors. He mentioned that promoting Indigenous and Local Content, which is another strategic pillar of the Agency was aimed at supporting local start-ups and encouraging Made in Africa products. He opined that African countries should share experiences and ideas in order to build world-class products while laying emphasis that it is easier to procure products from neighbouring countries than other continents.
