Ike, Chinweoke Uzoamaka (author), Tranter, Richard (author), and Gadanakis, Yiorgos (author)
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
2021-03-29
Published:
UK: Agricultural Economics Society, The
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 207 Document Number: D13166
Notes:
14 pages, To diversify the Nigerian economy and reduce dependency on food import, the Agricultural
promotion policy (APP) was developed and implemented in 2016. This policy aims to move
Nigerian agriculture to a commercial sector to ensure the creation of sustainable jobs and
wealth. However, little is known about the effects of the policy on biodiversity, dietary
diversity, and employment and income of the small-scale farmers who form the greater
proportion of the food producers. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of APP in
achieving social justice particularly for small-scale farmers, environmental sustainability and
economic viability through sustainable agriculture. To assess the effectiveness of APP, focus
groups discussions were held in six local governments in the North East geopolitical zone of
Nigeria. APP food security thrusts of strategic national food reserve, proper use of
agrochemicals and tractors, focus on forest food harvest and government support for large
scale and specialised farms are very effective for securing food price stability. Moreover, food
crop fortification is very effective in providing income support for households as it is the focus
on forest food harvest, and access to credit and labour subsidies for small farmers.
Encouraging organic farming is very effective in securing access to and availability of diversity
of food, biodiversity and employment. Food diversity, soil fertility, biodiversity and
employment also benefited from the provision of credit and labour subsidies. The outcome
of this discussion is important for shaping the Nigerian food system. Though the APP thrusts
are geared towards achieving sustainable development, Nigerian policy authorities should
focus more on encouraging organic farming, credit and labour subsidies for the smallholder
farmers, creating balance diet awareness, and forest preservation and food harvest to achieve
food security, environmental sustainability and employment.
10 pages, Abstract— Smart agriculture involves the use of technology such as drones, GPS, robotics, IoT, AI, big data, and solar energy to improve farming practices. As with any disruptive innovation, however, stakeholder expectations can be misaligned from what the innovation can actually deliver. There can also be varying perspectives on what the innovation entails, related topics of interest, and impediments to large scale adoption. This study examines public perception of smart agriculture and its perceived drivers and challenges as present in social media discourse. We collected online posts from Twitter, Reddit, forums, online news and blogs between January 2010 and December 2018 for analysis. Results show that 38% of social media posts contained emotion with 52% joy, 21% anger and 12% sadness. Through topic analysis, we discovered seven key drivers and challenges for smart agriculture which included: enabling technologies, data ownership and privacy, accountability and trust, energy and infrastructure, investment, job security, and climate change.
