Two seniors in the Information Systems program under the School of Information Technology & Computing (SITC), Abdullahi Shehu and Ja’afar Yazid have developed a project dynamics model on how to improve rice farming in Adamawa State.
The project explores innovative ways in which rice farming can be enhanced with the use of technology to maximize production and meet market demand. The project design which utilizes vensim, simulation software for improving the performance of real systems, was presented at the fall semester Senior Design Poster exhibition.
Dr. Jean-Paul Cléron, SITC’s Assistant Professor and leading authority in system dynamics and its application to management issues, supervised Abdullahi and Ja’afar on this project.
The project also aims to highlight the high demand for rice in Adamawa and Nigeria, with a focus on policies and other factors such as mechanized farming and how it can be harnessed to bring about higher levels of rice production to meet its rising demand.
On what impacted their decision to design the model, Ja’afar said they wanted to improve rice farming and production due to the current Federal Government ban on the importation of rice and other agricultural produce.
Rice farming in Adamawa, like many parts of the country, is still undeveloped, and one of the major problems faced by the farmers is the inadequacy of equipment to enable maximum production.
Abdullahi added that lately, there has been a lot of demand for locally-produced rice across the country, to which the current supply does not match up, and he believes their model will bring a solution by providing a balance to both demand and supply.
Their research intends to project the impact which the policies and IT-based simulation will have on the state’s rice production by the adaptation of mechanized farming.
On scalability and adoption, the duo noted that the design is based on system dynamics and can be adapted and manipulated to fit other agricultural activities.
Messrs. Shehu and Yazid envision great possibilities for their project. They believe it will address the problems of unemployment and food security while boosting the economy of Adamawa State and Nigeria.
Reported by Togor Passa