No fewer than 311 smallholder farmers in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State have received training on digital tools aimed at improving farm management, agricultural productivity and access to finance.
The training was organised by agritech company Crop Cura in collaboration with Dizengoff and Casava Insurance at the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Secretariat.
The organisers had initially targeted 200 farmers for the activation, but attendance exceeded expectations, with 311 farmers participating in the programme.
The initiative brought together agricultural officials, farmer groups and other stakeholders as part of efforts to promote the use of technology and better farm management practices among smallholder farmers.
Among those present were Abolade Omidiji, Director of Agriculture for Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area; Lanre Kokumo, Ogun State Chairman of the Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN); MAAN Coordinator for Ado-Odo/Ota, Asanbe Victor; Wale Ajayi, Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) Coordinator for Ado-Odo/Ota; and Obagade Abiodun, Extension Officer for Ifo and Ado-Odo/Ota.
The training was conducted largely in Yoruba to ensure that farmers, including those with limited formal education, could participate effectively.
Representatives of Dizengoff, identified as Friday, Omolade and Toyin, focused their sessions on the appropriate use of agricultural inputs, fertiliser application and crop protection.
They also addressed soil-related challenges and the importance of applying farm inputs correctly to improve crop yields and reduce avoidable losses.
For many smallholder farmers, poor input management can increase production costs while reducing returns. The training therefore sought to connect practical farming knowledge with tools that could help farmers make better decisions.
A major focus of the programme was the use of smartphones as agricultural tools.
In a presentation titled “Use Your Phone to Farm Better and Get Money for Your Farm,” Crop Cura’s Dr Soetan Olatunbosun demonstrated how farmers could use smartphones to support different aspects of their farming operations.
He introduced participants to Crop Cura’s artificial intelligence (AI) tool, which uses camera scans to help identify possible crop-health problems and provide advisory information.
Farmers were also encouraged to maintain digital records covering important aspects of their operations, including farm size, planting dates, inputs used, labour costs, harvest volumes and sales.
According to Olatunbosun, such records could help farmers develop verifiable financial profiles, potentially strengthening their ability to demonstrate their businesses to lenders and access agricultural credit.
The emphasis on digital record-keeping reflects a broader challenge facing smallholder agriculture: many farmers operate viable businesses but have limited formal documentation of their income, expenditure, assets and production history.
Better records can provide lenders and other financial institutions with more information with which to assess agricultural businesses.
However, Olatunbosun cautioned that artificial intelligence should complement, rather than replace, physical farm inspections and professional agricultural advice.
The training also introduced farmers to agricultural insurance.
Representatives of Casava Insurance, led by Jesuloba and Shina, explained how insurance products could help farmers protect their investments against risks associated with weather and other agricultural uncertainties.
Farmers were given an opportunity to ask questions about crop failures, weather-related losses and other challenges affecting their businesses.
For smallholder farmers whose livelihoods can be heavily affected by adverse weather, crop disease or other production risks, access to insurance can form part of a broader risk-management strategy.
