The Executive Chairman of Ipokia Local Government, Hon. Johnson Akohomeh Avoseh, has called on farmers nationwide to embrace modern technologies in their farming practices to enhance productivity during harvest seasons.

Hon. Avoseh made the appeal during an extraordinary interactive session involving farmers from all wards of the Local Government and representatives of **Agriculture Connect**, a Federal Ministry of Information initiative. The session featured Alhaja Ajisegiri Nimotalai, the Local Government programme enumerator, who engaged with the farmers on the benefits of technological integration in agriculture.

Explaining the Agriculture Connect initiative, the Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Ipokia Local Government, Mr Ezekiel Omidiji, stated that the programme focuses on leveraging **artificial intelligence (AI)** to improve agricultural production. To ensure the programme’s effectiveness, farmers were provided with cloud phones to access vital information such as market trends, weather forecasts, technical know-how, and farmer logs.

Mr Omidiji further noted that the project was officially launched by the Executive Governor of Ogun State, His Excellency Prince Dapo Abiodun CON, on **June 4, 2025, in Abeokuta**.

Alhaja Nimotalai, the Ipokia LG programme enumerator, provided detailed explanations of the ICT components of the project, guiding farmers on its usage. She also announced that regular meetings would be held to review progress and address emerging challenges.

During the session, participants raised various concerns, which were thoroughly discussed and addressed by the officials.

The event was attended by key local government officials, including **Hon. Sosoedo Amos (Supervisor for Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation), Hon. Fagbenro Musa (Special Adviser on IGR), and Hon. Akindele Lukmon (Supervisor for Agriculture and Natural Resources)