Deborah Ocheni
Abuja
The Executive Secretary of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Abubakar Adamu Dabban has called for bold investments in artificial intelligence, scientific innovation, and agricultural research to unlock Sub-Saharan Africa's vast agricultural potential and strengthen global food security.
Speaking at the 24th Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) System Council Meeting in Antalya, Türkiye, Dabban said Africa possesses more than 60 per cent of the world's uncultivated arable land, a youthful population, rich biodiversity, and enormous agricultural opportunities, yet continues to grapple with food insecurity, low productivity, poor infrastructure, and climate-related challenges.
According to a press statement by Khadijat Oluwatoyin Ameen, public Relations Officer to the Executive Secretary, the ARCN boss while addressing delegates, development partners, researchers, policymakers, and private-sector leaders, Dabban stressed that the future of agriculture in Africa must be knowledge-driven, powered by data, technology, and innovation rather than traditional factors such as land size and labour availability.
He noted that artificial intelligence has the potential to transform farming across the continent by predicting weather patterns, detecting crop diseases before outbreaks, improving fertilizer and water use, enhancing livestock management, reducing post-harvest losses, and strengthening market intelligence and agricultural extension services.
According to him, governments and stakeholders must invest in digital agricultural infrastructure, including rural broadband connectivity, farm information systems, satellite technologies, innovation hubs, and digital advisory platforms to ensure farmers have access to timely and actionable information.
Dabban also advocated strengthening agricultural research institutions through AI-powered breeding programmes, climate-smart crop improvement, genomic research, predictive analytics, and big-data platforms capable of accelerating innovation and improving food production.
He emphasized the importance of modernizing genebanks and biodiversity conservation systems, describing Africa's genetic resources as strategic assets for future food security and climate resilience. He said artificial intelligence could significantly improve germplasm characterization, breeding efficiency, genetic diversity analysis, and conservation planning.
Highlighting the role of young people in driving agricultural transformation, Dabban urged governments and development partners to establish innovation funds, startup incubators, agritech training programmes, scholarships in AI and data science, and venture capital initiatives targeting youth-led enterprises.
"The next agricultural revolution in Africa will be led by young innovators equipped with technology and entrepreneurial skills," he said.
The ES further called for increased access to financing for agritech startups, climate-smart agriculture projects, AI-enabled solutions, and small holder farmers, noting that innovation cannot thrive without sustainable funding mechanisms.
On climate change, Dabban said smart technologies such as early warning systems, precision irrigation, drought forecasting, climate-risk mapping, carbon monitoring systems, and digital insurance products could help farmers adapt to changing environmental conditions and improve resilience.
In a separate address at the meeting, themed "Transforming Sub-Saharan Africa's Agricultural Research and Innovation Ecosystem for Maximum Impact," Dabban proposed seven strategic pillars for agricultural transformation, including increased investment in agricultural research and development, adoption of AI and digital agriculture, strengthening genebanks, empowering youth and women, fostering partnerships, scaling climate-smart agriculture, and ensuring research outputs translate into measurable development outcomes.
He urged African governments to commit at least one per cent of agricultural GDP to research and innovation while encouraging stronger collaboration among CGIAR centres, national research institutions, universities, governments, farmers' organizations, and the private sector.
Dabban also called on CGIAR to place Africa at the centre of its 2025-2030 Science and Innovation Portfolio, with greater investments in African-led research and the scaling of proven agricultural technologies across the continent.
"The future of global food security will be significantly shaped by what happens in Africa over the next decade. The question is whether we will invest boldly enough in science, innovation, technology, and partnerships to make it happen."
He urge stakeholders to work together to build resilient, productive, and sustainable food systems capable of transforming Africa's agricultural potential into widespread prosperity and contributing meaningfully to global food security.
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