Nigeria will need to increase agricultural productivity through better knowledge, technology and extension services rather than relying mainly on expanding farmland, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Abubakar Kyari has said.

Speaking at the Africa Agribusiness Extension Summit 2026, Kyari said Nigeria’s rapidly growing population made it increasingly important to improve the productivity of farms already under cultivation.

Nigeria’s population is projected to approach 400 million by 2050, according to the minister, while agriculture accounts for about 34% of total employment. He said stronger agricultural extension could therefore have a direct impact on food production, household incomes and rural livelihoods.

Kyari described agricultural extension as critical infrastructure, arguing that advisory systems need to provide farmers with reliable information over the long term in much the same way that roads and electricity infrastructure support economic activity.

He said the government was moving from predominantly face-to-face extension services towards digital platforms that can reach farmers more quickly and provide information in formats suited to their needs.

More than 100,000 farmers across six states have received weekly text messages covering rainfall expectations and crop protection, while a digital extension platform is being rolled out to provide advice through text and voice in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin.

The government has also deployed more than 1,000 digital extension agents equipped with tablets through the National Agricultural Development Fund, while 774 agricultural desk officers are being positioned across local government areas.

Kyari said a steering committee had been established to coordinate the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s various digital extension initiatives and prevent different government agencies from creating competing information systems.

He also called for closer integration of agricultural advice with climate information from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, particularly as farmers face increasing weather-related risks.

The minister warned that digitalisation could reproduce existing institutional weaknesses if systems were developed independently without coordination.

Gender is another priority in the expansion of agricultural extension. Kyari said women should be deliberately targeted by advisory services because of their important roles across planting, harvesting, processing and marketing.

Extension Africa Chief Executive and Co-founder Tajudeen Yahaya said Nigeria’s extension system remained constrained by shortages of personnel, weak data systems and poor coordination.

According to Yahaya, one extension agent currently serves approximately 10,000 farm families, making it difficult to provide farmers with timely technical support.

He called for greater investment in extension personnel, farmer databases, technology and partnerships, while arguing that agricultural technology should ultimately deliver measurable economic benefits for farmers through lower production costs or improved access to higher-value markets.

The discussions highlight the growing importance of extension services as Nigeria seeks to improve food security. With limited resources and rising demand, increasing the productivity of existing farms through better information, technology and market connections could become an increasingly important part of the country’s agricultural strategy.