By Kelvin Alohan
The Federal Government has urged African countries to treat agricultural extension services as critical infrastructure needed to boost productivity and achieve food security across the continent.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the Africa Agribusiness Extension Summit (AAES) 2026.
The summit, organised by Extension Africa, was themed “Building Sustainable Agricultural Advisory Infrastructure for Africa.”
Kyari said Africa could not feed its projected 2.5 billion population by 2050 through expansion of farmland alone, stressing the need to increase productivity by improving farmers’ access to knowledge and advisory services.
“Extension must be treated as infrastructure. Roads and power lines are judged by whether they carry what the economy needs every day.
“A project can deliver advice for three seasons; infrastructure must deliver it for 30 years,” he said.
The minister called for greater use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital technologies in agricultural extension, but stressed that technology should complement rather than replace professional extension workers.
He said digital systems must protect farmers’ data and remain accessible through Short Message Service (SMS), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and voice services, particularly for farmers using basic phones or operating in areas with poor network coverage.
According to Kyari, integrating farmer registries with extension services would make agricultural advice more targeted and relevant.
“A registry tells us who the farmer is, where the farm lies and what grows on it. Extension tells the farmer what to do next.
“When the two are joined, advice stops being a broadcast and becomes a prescription,” he said.
Kyari said Nigeria’s agricultural extension system, which dates back to traditional community-based methods and the establishment of the Moore Plantation in Ibadan in 1905, had suffered from inadequate financing over the years.
He recalled that the World Bank-supported Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) once operated at a ratio of one extension agent to between 1,000 and 1,500 farm families.
However, he said declining support had resulted in vacant positions, with one extension agent now serving between 5,000 and 10,000 farmers in some areas.
“No field officer, however committed, can meaningfully serve that number through physical visits alone,” he said.
The minister said the challenge was no longer whether extension services were necessary, but how to build systems capable of meeting future demand at scale.
He disclosed that more than 100,000 farmers in six states were receiving weekly climate advisory text messages through the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and private-sector partners.
Government, he added, had deployed more than 1,000 digital extension agents equipped with tablets, alongside 774 desk officers across the country’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Kyari also said government was rolling out a digital platform capable of communicating with farmers in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin, while transmitting farmers’ challenges to agricultural specialists.
He said a steering committee had been approved to harmonise extension initiatives involving the National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services (NAERLS), National Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) and NiMet.
The initiative, he said, was aimed at reducing fragmented messages reaching farmers from different government agencies.
The minister cited Jigawa, Kano and Oyo as examples of states investing in agricultural extension.
He said Jigawa had recruited more than 1,500 agents to cover 55,000 hectares during its wheat season and approved 1,185 motorcycles for their mobility.
Kano, he added, recruited 1,038 agents in 2025, while Oyo trained 131 agents in digital farmland measurement and another 116 in improved mapping applications.
Kyari urged African countries to design extension systems that deliberately reach young people and women, noting that agriculture could provide livelihood opportunities for young graduates without requiring them to own farmland.
He also stressed the need to address the historical gap in reaching women involved in planting, processing and marketing.
“Advisory infrastructure that does not reach women directly leaves a substantial part of African agriculture without the knowledge it needs,” he said.
Kyari said agriculture accounted for 34 per cent of jobs in Nigeria and more than 50 per cent across Africa, making the sector critical to food security and livelihoods.
He urged participants at the summit to develop shared African standards for agricultural extension.
“Africa does not need to solve these challenges country by country. Knowledge can travel,” he said.
…Stakeholders Seek Wider Use Of AI
Meanwhile, stakeholders at the summit called for wider adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools to improve agricultural advisory services across Africa.
The Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Extension Africa, Tajudeen Yahaya, said the summit was designed to shift the discussion on agricultural extension from service delivery to the infrastructure and partnerships required to sustain it.
He identified people, technology, data and partnerships as the four pillars required to build effective agricultural advisory infrastructure.
“We identified four pillars which are people, technology, data and partnerships. These are what we feel are needed for the infrastructure to happen,” he said.
The Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Extension Africa, Isa Abdulsamad, said AI-driven advisory services could support farmers and agribusinesses by integrating research with farmers’ needs and local conditions.
He said AI-based advisory services could be accessed through both basic feature phones and smartphones, expanding access to farmers regardless of their level of digital connectivity.
Earlier, the Director, Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, Dr Samaila Tehinshe, said the government was working with stakeholders to facilitate the passage of the Agricultural Extension Bill.
Tehinshe, represented by Deputy Director, Dr Christiana Malgwi, said the proposed legislation would help address fragmented extension service delivery and strengthen advisory services.
He said the ministry, in collaboration with the Africa Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), had constituted the board of the Nigeria Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (NIFAAS) to strengthen capacity in the sector.
He added that the ministry was working with the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) to advance the Agricultural Extension Bill.