Corporate Farmers International (CFI) has partnered Lagos and Kebbi states governments and the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) to launch a world-class digital agricultural e-learning academy, Eko school agric comic for children and teenagers and an agricultural extension service for farmers.
The three agricultural products and services unveiled by CFI were meant to further change the narrative of Nigeria’s agricultural sector by closing the major gaps within the sector such as agric education, children and teenagers’ involvement in agric and creating innovative jobs in agricultural extension services.
Speaking at the launch in Lagos recently, the co-founder of CFI, Akin Alabi, said the new products and services were designed out of the desire to provide relevant information about agriculture and its value chain, and to expose opportunities for other players across other sectors in Nigeria.
According to him, the agric e-learning academy is in collaboration with Lagos, Kebbi states and Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, with detailed course and certification on five different agric value chain and verification as an agric aggregator from CIS.
He said the academy is 100 per cent digital with tutors that will take students and agric stakeholders through all courses before examination and certification.
“Eko school agric is a comic book series for children, teenagers and lovers of comic books, in collaboration with Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture. It is designed to instil knowledge to our children, catch them young and know where their food comes from. The low acceptability among our youth must be tackled from the root, and to do that we must create a platform for our children to also see themselves a critical player in the value chain.”
He explained that CFI farm support service was established to add value to the Nigerian extension service sector by providing a weekly digital service for farmers and agro-starters through some dedicated mobile numbers.