Data is the new oil! No, not really. Data not effectively applied is nothing but a noise; and a huge nuisance. Data can enable us to build resilient food systems, systems required to ensure we have what it takes to feed a prospective 9.7 Billion people by 2050.

1. A data-driven approach towards achieving goal 1 and 2
Unlocking the Next
Frontier of Opportunity

2. Introduction
Limited mechanization of agriculture
Absence of farm and post-harvest infrastructure
Reliance on rain-fed agriculture due to lack of irrigation
infrastructure.
Difficulty in accessing affordable and patient capital
In Nigeria today, over 70% of all food production is carried
out by smallholder farmers. Their work is often
characterized by the reliance on guesswork for decision-
making. As a result, they achieve very low yields, and with it
very low incomes. Which explains why they make up 75%
of all people who live on under $1 a day.
There are other things that characterize agriculture in
Nigeria. They include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
All these challenges can be solved using data.

3. State of Data in Nigerian Agriculture
There is a huge dearth in terms of
access to quality data. Where data
exists, it is often fragmented and
siloed, and as such not particularly
useful to be applied for
development purposes. In some
other instances, data may exist,
but in paper form, which sooner
than later is lost or damaged.
There are key data sets which
when collected can be leveraged
to build a resilient food system for
Nigeria. It can also be repurposed
for use in planning by the
government. But these data must
be in formats that are sharable
and interoperable. Some
important data sets include
Soil Data
Crop Failure Data
Farm/ Farmer Data
Legacy soil data for different zones in Nigeria needs to be
carefully collected.
Data on crop failure and the causative factors, eg drought,
flood, pest incidence, etc can be coolected
Data on farmer like farm name, location, the crop is grown,
GPS coordinates of the farm, farm sizes, This would also
include farmer credit history and social collateral attestation
Vegetation, crop grwth data

4. Application Outcomes
How it works
Fertilizer Recommendation and Crop
Health Audiit
Disease Early Warning /Weed Pest
Control Systems
Risk and Credit Profile System
This would leverage farmer, field, soil, and
remote sensing data to tell farmers the right
fertilizers to use, a well as providing a crop
performance audit in real-time.
Vegetation, pest, and disease incidence
data would be combined to give farmers
actionable information.
This would combine farmer data, crop
performance records, farmer credit history,
and crop failure data to visualize risk for
potential funders.
Increased crop yields for farmers
Better scouting
Data from crop production can be leveraged to plan
logistics and sales.
Farmers can use precise herbicides and pesticides in
the right dosage
Farmers can get advance warnings on disease
breakout, enabling them to plan better.
Provide transparency in terms of risks and help unlock
finance for the sector.
Data would enable investors to identify viable areas
they can invest in different infrastructure to maximize
profits.
Applications of Data to agriculture

5. All these data would be made
interoperable and easy to share using
APIs. They would form building
blocks upon which other solutions
can be built. The data can also be
repurposed as follows:
Farmer Data
Can be one and the
same with census
data, so as not to
reinvent the wheel.
Production Data
Crop production and
subsequently
earnings report per
farmer can be utilized
for the purpose of
effective taxation.
Risk and Credit
Data
This can be applied to
provide farmers with
micro pension and
insurance, as well.
Crop
Performance
Data
Can be leveraged to
develop better-
performing seeds by
the national seed
council.
So what next?

6. In Conclusion
We can build a truly resilient food system for Nigeria, by simply leveraging data to unlock resources and even dead
assets. There is enough data that is siloed that can be unlocked to provide the means for smallholder farmers to be able
to take the guesswork out of agriculture and be able to make smart decisions. And when data is applied in the
agricultural sector, it would have ripple effects across other sectors, as the data gets reused and repurposed.
But for this to be effective, every data has to be interoperable and easily shared using APIs. And there must be a
cohesive national data strategy to drive the production, utilization, repurposing, and sharing of data. When this is done,
a solid foundation for the Nigerian agricultural sector would have been laid, for which the future would thank us.
Your Agency or Department Name | SDG Progress Report 2025