How technology can manage country’s food shortage

Import bill for food in Nigeria is becoming alarming. At 11 percent per annum, it is growing in geometric acceleration that seems very difficult to sustain. Most unfortunate is that Nigeria is importing what it can produce in abundance, thereby hurting Nigerian farmers and displacing local production.

Ironically, the present President of the African development Bank, ADB and former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina had in 2012, at a two-day Investors’ Forum in Abeokuta, Ogun State, promised that this would sieze to be the situation in 2015.

The minister then, said the Federal Government had commenced measures to address the problem and by 2015, would stop the importation of rice.

He painted a picture which suggested that the abundant Taraba rice project which gulped over $40m and two other rice mills, established in Niger and Ebonyi, would be capable of providing enough rice for Nigeria to stop the importation which was nearing fever pitch at about five million metric tonnes per annum.

However, Adesina’s prediction cum projection may have not happened if recent statistics released by the permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Sonny Echono are to be relied upon.

In July this year, Echono stated that Nigeria’s food import was growing at an unsustainable rate of 11 per cent, while the country had continued to rely on expensive foods from the global market.

At a two-day workshop in Abuja to discuss: ‘Food crisis prevention and management charter’at the headquarters ofthe FMARD, Abuja, Echono said that “Nigeria became a net importer of food and major importer of wheat, rice, sugar and fish and importation of these four commodities consumes over N1tn in foreign exchange every year since 2005”

Solution
But Nigerian scientists in the field of bioscience have proffered solution. “Give technology a chance to solve the problem; implement the biosafety agency law” they seem to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari.

The scientists tasked Buhari to demonstrate his administration’s commitment towards agricultural revitalization by ensuring full application of technology in the agricultural sector.“This step, they say, would guarantee food security in the country and make Nigeria become globally competitive in production and supply of agricultural produce instead of wasting such staggering amounts on food importation.

Global best practice
According to them, what is required is full implementation of the new biotechnology law and its adoption by Nigerian farmers in line with global best practices.“While declaring their commitment and determination towards this goal, the bio-scientists while pledging to work with the government in implementing relevant policies which embrace deployment of modern technological tools to addressing farming challenges, insisted that agricultural biotechnology would play a major role in the actualization of this policy.

Recall that former President Goodluck Jonathan had in April this year signed the National Biosafety Agency Bill after many years of lobbying, a development described by many proponents as a milestone in the domestication of modern biotechnology in Nigeria.

The signing of the bill into law is expected to place Nigeria in the league of countries advanced in the use of this cutting edge technology as another window to boost the economic development of Nigeria. Officials say it would create more job opportunities, increase food production that will enhance farmers’ output and checkmate hunger if given good attention by government.

Global interest
The Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, while addressing scientists at a media briefing in Abuja, said immense benefits derivable from this technology are globally acknowledged and they are as varied as the vast scope of the technology itself dating back to the first, second and third generation versions. The NABDA DG stated the global interest in the impact of biotechnology centre mainly on food security, health benefits as well as environmental preservation among others and commended Nigeria’s quick embrace of the technology by producing a robust and all-inclusive biotechnology policy that will suffice.

What are your children doing online?

‘WONT he break it?’ Barely five years ago, if anyone saw your toddler with a smart phone or tablet, that’s exactly what they would say. But today, it is a given that children are good with technology. Although it is nearly impossible to believe that this is not as a result of some genetic make-up peculiar to any child born after Facebook, the ubiquitous presence of technology today ensures that more and more children are crawling around the online space.

In fact, according to a recent survey, the average age of children online is three years old. In many ways, this is a great thing. Access to the internet means that children born in this generation are more likely to be smarter than any other generation before them. But shocking statistics reveal a more sinister side to this story.

A recent survey by Netmums.com of 2000 children from ages 11 to 16 disclosed that parents are rarely aware of their children’s internet activity. While three quarters believe their child spends less than an hour a day online, children admit that they are actually surfing the web for an average of two hours a day. More than a third begin to feel “angry and grumpy” if they cannot get online whilst one in five expressed concerns that they spend more time in the virtual world than with real people.

While more than half said they had accidentally accessed inappropriate content online, one in 11 admitted looking for it deliberately. A quarter said they had accessed eating disorder sites and one in five had looked at self harming websites. More than one in ten admitted viewing suicide sites and child abuse images.

Almost one in five admitted that had “thought about” trying what they had seen online but 98 per cent of parents who knew their children had accessed inappropriate material had no idea they had been influenced by it. One in 20 revealed that they had met up with a stranger they first met on the internet.

Another study by the BBC learning poll is as shocking. About 20% of children surveyed said they had put pressure on someone else to act negatively online. 47%, said they had looked at something online that they thought their parents would not like them to see. While 14% admitted to sending pictures of themselves, or others, that their parents would not like them to share. And nearly one in 10 had signed up to websites or services not meant for their age group. Among 14- to 16-year-olds, almost three-quarters (72%) said they had experienced or witnessed online bullying.

5 Ways Social Media Will Change The Way We Learn And Live

“Traditional communication as we know it is becoming extinct and the companies who will rule their industries in the future are those who embrace the latest developments in digital communication.
Most people don’t see big changes coming. What they see is a continuation of recent developments. But that’s not the case with technologies of the 21st century. An extrapolation of Moore’s law show that computing power doubles every two years.
Technology improves geometrically while our brains see things linearly. Technically, at best, we may be myopic when forecasting where social media will be some 10 years from now.

Here are five things that will probably change about how we learn and live based on the social media revolution in as little as ten years from now.

1. Collaborative learning:

Education is one of the fields that will likely be influenced most by social media. The logical extension of traditional learning is learning on social media via direct chat with lecturers and group chats where several students can communicate with one another and with their lecturer. They will communicate in real time. This collaboration will make learning fun and easy to cope with. Soon, it may be possible to network several minds together using a technology called mindplexing and learning will just be about ensuring one of the persons in the network learns the subject matter. Other minds in the network will be updated with the new information.

2. Accelerated learning:

I think 80 percent of all the needed materials on a course or subject is now available on the internet.
what people study for four years in a university is now a few clicks away. The only need for lecturers in the future may be about offering guidance to students. Self study can enable a student complete his undergraduate degree in as little as a year in the future.

3. Virtual reality:

most active users of Facebook don’t feel the presence of the person they are chatting with. That will change in the future. Virtual reality will allow someone in Nigeria to go on a date with someone is Japan in a virtual environment. They will meet, exchange greetings and move around from the comfort of their homes. Virtual reality will make online learning more meaningful and productive. It will be possible to attend all lectures in a virtual environment.

4. Decision making:

unknown to some persons, the first thing people do when they want to know about you is to check your full names on Google. The next place they check is Facebook. A recent research revealed that 25 percent of college admissions officers consider digital footprints. 75 percent of human resource managers check candidate’s online presence on Google and social media. 35 percent of employers reject candidates based on something found in their profile.

5. Digital media capital:

Facebook is working on making everybody on earth have access to internet and Facebook by the year 2020. Once that is achieved, employers will find probably look for people with strongsocial media credibility and authority as against intellectualabilities alone when considering prospects for some departments.”