ABIA – Governor, Dr Alex Otti, has officially launched the Abia State Agriculture Dynamic Database System (ABIA-ADDS), a modern, secure and user-friendly digital platform designed to capture, organize, analyze and share agricultural data across the state in real time.
Speaking during the event held at the Ochendo International Conference Centre Umuahia, Governor Otti described agriculture as the heartbeat of communities and a pathway to sustainable prosperity for Abians. He explained that the launch of ABIA-ADDS is a decisive step in fulfilling his promise to Abians in providing a transformative agenda that would rebuild the state’s economy from the grassroot as well as put the citizens especially farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs at the centre of the state’s recovery agenda.
The Governor represented by his Chief of Staff, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, disclosed that farmers have before now lacked reliable data, predictable access to inputs, extension services, finance and markets thereby making policy makers to rely on fragmented and outdated data to make decisions. He noted that the challenge in agriculture has not been the lack of potential or interest by the teaming population but the deficit of timely, reliable information and coordinated action.
The State Chief Executive explained that the system is the product of productive collaboration between the state government, farmer organizations, private sector technology partners, research institutions and development partners and urged traditional rulers, cooperative leaders and community mobilizers to continue to support registration drives, while the local government officials are to integrate ABIA-ADDS into their planning and service delivery processes.
Governor Otti further enumerated some of the benefits of ABIA-ADDS to include providing a centralized farmer registry, capturing demographic information, farm sizes, crops and livestock types, mechanization level and cooperative affiliations, mapping of agricultural land and value chains using appropriate tools, linking farmers to finance and insurance, supporting extension services and advisory delivery, tracking input distribution and program implementation, providing analytical tools for policymakers among others.
He commended the Commissioner for Agriculture, his Science, Technology and Innovation counterpart and their teams for the transformative initiative geared towards ensuring food security and assured that his administration will continue to provide the policy, budgetary support and political will needed to sustain ABIA-ADDS.
In their speeches, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Cliff Agbaeze and his Science, Technology and Innovation counterpart, Mr David Kalu, explained that the project is anchored on the vision of Governor Otti and is fully established to ensure a sustainable, competitive and resilient agricultural sector that will boost food production, create job opportunities and contribute to the state’s economic growth.
They noted that the Abia-ADDS platform is more than a database but a powerful engine of transformation that will help in identifying real farmers in the State, plan targeted, efficient and equitable interventions, distribute inputs fairly and transparently, conduct soil testing through remote-sensing technology, know the soil composition of each farmland and determine the right fertilizer blend for it, support farmer cooperatives with proper records and attract investors who require credible data.
The launch which featured goodwill messages, presentation by the Development Partner, Mr Nwachinemerem Emeka, discussion segment, also attracted the presence of the Principal Secretary & Chief Strategy Officer to the State Government, Mr Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, the Chief Information Officer, Mr Gerald Ilukwe, Special Adviser to the Governor on Investment Promotions, Public Private Partnership, Chief Green Amakwe, Permanent Secretaries, traditional rulers, Abia farmers among other distinguished personalities.
