In a bid to advance food security in the country, the Honorable Minister, Federal Ministry of Innovation Science and Technology (FMIST), Chief Uche Nnaji has commended NASRDA for successfully winning the bid to host the Regional Centre for West Africa Cropwatch initiative.
He made the statement while receiving a delegation of the Aerospace Information Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIR/CAS) recently in Abuja.
Chief Nnaji while commending the Director General for achieving this feat in a very short time since assumption of office, said Cropwatch as a customized platform for Nigeria will monitor Agriculture, using remote sensing and geo-spatial data to enhance food security, adding that the CropWatch system will be used to monitor crops such as Maize, soya beans, and others thereby improving productivity.
The Minister also lauded the NASRDA team on the project as well as its international partners, pointing to the dynamic leadership of the DG who he said has made remarkable contributions to the nation sine taking over as NASRDA boss.
In his remarks, the Director General, National Space Research and Development Agency, (NASRDA), Dr. Matthew Adepoju, said within the space of two years on the crop watch programme, the Agency ranks number one in Africa due to its immense contributions to the initiative.
Dr. Adepoju while appreciating the team from AIR/CAS pointed that Space Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) plays a crucial role in transforming agriculture and enhancing food security for the socioeconomic development of the country.
He added that NASRDA has a mandate to use geospatial data to solve social economic development issues for the good of the Nigerians, and the CropWatch platform is one of such strategic tools that can be deployed in realizing this mandate.
Also speaking, Prof Yirong Wu, Director General, Aerospace Information Research Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIR/CAS) expressed appreciation for the warm reception accorded him and his team, adding that he is very excited about the collaboration with NASRDA and by extension Nigeria, saying the CropWatch initiative has achieved so much success in China, and the model will be equally successful in Nigeria.
He pointed that the Agreement entered into with NARSDA will provide an Earth Observation satellite Ground Station and other infrastructure which will effectively ensure the success of the Cropwatch initiative in Nigeria and West Africa.
The high point of the event was the presentation of the name plaque for the West Africa Regional Centre on CropWatch-ICP and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to the Honourable Minister of Innovation Science and Technology.
Alexandra Oladipo, Media and Corporate Communications.
