FARMKONNECT has inaugurated a precision data centre in Ibadan, Oyo State. Tagged Farmkonnect’s Agricultural Electronic Extension Service Centre (FagEX), it is said to be the first in Africa, and would ensure that precision farming is more accessible and affordable to farmers on the continent.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Azeez Oluwole, the setup is inspired by the Nigerian Navy’s Falcon Eye, a surveillance system for shipping. Oluwole hinted that the company would partner with technology hubs in the Netherlands, India, USA, UK, China, Russia, Sweden, and Nigeria to provide the much needed data for farmers. In addition, FagEX would create about 700 jobs in Nigeria alone.
The Executive Assistant to the governor on Agribusiness, Dr. Debo Akande revealed that the governor, His Excellency Oluwaseyi Makinde, has made agribusiness and agriculture a priority in the state. Dr. Akande added that the governor has put policies in place and are developing infrastructure within the state to bring in private sector investments into agriculture.
“By virtue of that, he has put in place the right policy, we are developing infrastructure across the board within the state and this is driving a good number of private sector participants to come to the state to invest in agriculture. This is the exposure we would see and much of this is coming, we are profiling them and what we would do according to our model is to look at them as private sector developed but public sector supported”.
Dr. Akande emphasized the importance of involving the youth in innovative ideas that can help the state flourish. “We have a large amount of young people, so we expect our state to be dynamic, to be innovative and we want new ideas to flourish in the state. And we hope a lot of people can copy, replicate and build on this wonderful initiative by Farmkonnect”.
