E-agriculture and food security in developing countries: beaming the searchlight on Nigeria

The quest for food security in the developing world has been ongoing for years with limited tangible results to show. It is quite worrisome to observe that despite a large portion of Nigeria's population relying on agriculture for their livelihood, several obstacles hinder progress toward food security. Challenges such as climate variability, insurgencies, and a lack of technical expertise have continually contributed to the sector's inconsistent growth. In the midst of the plethora of impediments, one significant factor identified as a barrier to the achievement of food security is the failure to adopt e-agriculture, a modern approach embraced by developed countries to improve the agricultural sector and enhance their food security prospects. As a response to the afore-mentioned gaps, we conducted this research to assess the challenges and opportunities of e-agriculture in enhancing food security within a developing country context using Nigeria as a focal case. Our study employed a desk review methodology and examined secondary data from books, journal articles, policy briefs, among other sources. Our findings indicate that while e-agriculture holds substantial promise, realising its full benefits requires addressing several critical issues. This is quite important because, without addressing these challenges, the potential of e-agriculture could be compromised. Therefore, we recommend that the government prioritise this initiative by investing significantly in digital infrastructure so as to guarantee food security for its teeming populace.