Leveraging Precision Agriculture for Sustainable Food Security in Nigeria

Abstract

This article reviewed opportunities and challenges of emerging technologies with precision agriculture to address challenges of food security amid the growing population in Nigeria. Providing sufficient, safe and nutritious food to all people is one of the major global concerns historically and in the twenty-first century. Food security is usually framed in four dimensions, food availability, access to food, food use/utilization and food stability. The objectives of precision farming as reviewed by this study are to; optimize resource use, enhance crop yields, improve sustainability, and reduce environmental impact and are attainable. Precision farming harnesses data, technology, and innovation to transform these objectives into reality. Precision farming is a modern management strategy that employs the details of site-specific nutrient management, remote sensing, global information system, global positioning system, and variable rate application to precisely manage the farm. It was researched that they are installed on tractors and other field equipment to check or enhance equipment operations. Limitations identified were high costs of some of the technologies, other key barriers include the lack of digital infrastructure like Internet and electricity, lack of awareness and digital skills among farmers, and societal barriers like gender and cultural practices. Also, lack of digital skills and literacy among smallholder farmers remains a major barrier to leveraging the potential of digital technologies. Agriculturists are therefore encouraged to adopt precision farming to increase production efficiency, reduce cost of production/ waste and improve the quality of farm produce.