By Abdullahi Lukman
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has signed an agreement with Tomorrow.io, TomorrowNow, and MTN to provide digital climate advisory services (DCAS) to 100,000 smallholder farmers across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
Launched Thursday in Abuja, the initiative aims to boost food security by delivering weekly, weather-driven guidance on planting, fertilization, and harvesting directly to farmers’ mobile phones.
The pilot project will initially deploy SMS-based alerts before expanding to voice services and training extension agents.
By providing localized, real-time data, the partnership seeks to help farmers adapt to increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.
According to TomorrowNow CEO Brian Miranda, African farmers—90% of whom rely on rainfall—can face yield penalties of up to 20% if planting is mistimed by even a few weeks.
NiMet Director-General Charles Anosike described the system as a “transformative innovation” that integrates advanced analytics with user-centric design.
While the current focus is on agriculture, the digital framework is built to be adaptable for other sectors, including aviation and disaster management.
This Nigerian expansion follows similar successful rollouts by TomorrowNow in Kenya and Malawi. Project organizers expect the initial 100,000-farmer pilot to eventually scale to reach tens of millions across the country, helping to unlock the productive potential of small-scale agriculture through global innovation and local expertise.
