Aside from policies that increase ease of doing business, achieving food security hinges largely on the quality of information accessed by farmers, especially smallholder farmers who produce 80% of food in developing countries. In depth information is as important as the inputs used in production. The knowledge gap among farmers is wide as it concerns innovations and technology that help increase yield or improve productivity. Many farmers only depend on peer-to-peer information, which is limited to their locality. Thus, there is a need for information platforms such as interactive voice response (IVR), video assisted platform, lead farmers initiative, call-in centres amongst others, where farmers can get any type of information, ranging from weather and climatic information, inputs information, market information amongst others.

Many farmers do not trust information platforms as a result of past experiences using other information platforms
In the 21st Century, the role of agricultural extension in developing countries should focus more on information platforms, where smallholder farmers can access information easily and at an affordable cost and can be satisfied hitherto. Therefore, there is a need to develop information database of all regions, identifying peculiar challenges of farmers, and provide succor in ensuring that solutions are adaptable to their local climate. It is vital to know that currently in Nigeria, there is no known platform that provides all the information needed by farmers rather there are platforms that provide piecemeal information, that accessibility differs. For instance, smallholder farmers still find it difficult to access platforms that can provide information on certain pests (especially identification) and proffer solutions and also market linkage platforms.

It is important to note that there are information platforms which are available. However, many farmers do not trust them as a result of past experiences using other information platforms. Therefore, there is a need to build transparency into our platforms that we are building for farmers for easy adoption and continuous usage.

Yours-in-service

Babatunde

In his weekly column Letter to my Farmers, Babatunde Olarewaju writes about personal experiences and insights on farming, curated through working with smallholder farmers in Africa. Last week's letter is available here.



Training of women on hand washing and emergency procedures
Training of farm workers on hand washing