Microsoft, NlRSAL Sign MoU To Increase Agric Outcomes
Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to collaborate in the deployment of the Microsoft Azure FarmBeats platform to help Nigerian farmers become more productive, reduce costs, practice sustainable agriculture and achieve better agricultural outcomes.
Agriculture is key to the development and growth of African economies, contributing to employment and food security. Though agriculture accounts for an average of 24 percent of the continent’s GDP, there remains a lot of untapped agricultural potential that can be leveraged by increasing farming productivity.
Speaking on the collaboration, Aliyu Abdulhameed, NIRSAL’s Managing Director/CEO commented that “Agriculture remains the foundation of Nigeria’s economy and is the main source of livelihood for most Nigerians. Therefore, the sustainability and growth of the agricultural sector is crucial for the development of the country and its people. We are certain that Azure FarmBeats will be the tool that will help us to analyse the data being produced from these farms and all the possible ways we can use it to stabilise the agricultural value chain and boost the confidence of investors to eliminate barriers to the free flow of finance and investment to agribusiness in Nigeria.”
Commenting, Akin Banuso, Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria Limited, who said: “Microsoft is excited to be working with NIRSAL to promote precision agriculture in Nigeria by leveraging both the experience and field structure established by NIRSAL to transform the agricultural space in the country and empower those who work within it by using Microsoft’s purpose-built, industry-specific cloud platform FarmBeats to drive innovation in the industry”.
With this partnership, NIRSAL is now able to help farmers analyse weather conditions, temperature, water conditions and so much more in real-time to inform better decision-making to optimise agricultural output and therefore lessen the risks to investors and attract more funding in Nigeria.
The US$500 million non-bank financial institution, wholly-owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria, was established in 2013 to stimulate the flow of affordable finance and investments into the country’s agricultural sector by de-risking the agribusiness finance value chain, fixing agricultural value chains, building long-term capacity, and institutionalising incentives for agricultural lending through its five strategic pillars, namely: Risk Sharing, Insurance, Technical Assistance, Incentives and Rating.
