ICT-Based Framework for Improved Food Security in Nigeria

Abstract

Hunger has plagued mankind throughout history and still remains a critical problem especially in Nigeria. This paper has analyzed the government and individual farmer’s effort to improve the lot of agriculture in Nigeria and discovered that enough has not been done on the issue of embracing ICT tools as a needed foundation for improved agricultural productivity. This paper has modeled an ICT based platform that if adopted by stakeholders, shall greatly pull Nigeria out of the mess of food insecurity. This framework incorporated a national internet host that will drive the information flow amongst the various stakeholders in agriculture. The six regional decision support systems in this model is a comprehensive database of agricultural information generated from research findings and innovations, inputs from agricultural extension officers, farmers, consumers, marketers, agricultural agencies via the interactive websites, radio, television, computers, personal digital assistants etc. The result of this research is a holistic ICT platform that if adopted, will ensure precision farming which shall improve food security in Nigeria.

Keywords: Food Security, Interactive websites, National Internet host, Precision farming, Regional decision support systems.