DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE AGROMETEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (AgIS) FOR NIGERIA

Abstract

The development of a prototype Agrometeorological Information System (AgIS) for Nigeria has been attempted in this study. A survey of one hundred (100) farmers using purposive sampling method and structured questionnaires was carried out during the preliminary stages of the AgIS development to obtain information necessary for the design of the AgIS platform. The survey identified the need to provide agrometeorological information as well as the type of information required by farmers in Nigeria. The AgIS website was programmed using HTML, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL programming languages. The AgIS website has been tested on Opera, Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome, Flock, and Dolphin web browsers that were installed on a computer running Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System. Also, a Short Message Service (SMS) support was integrated into the AgIS website to provide farmers with personalized agrometeorological information text messages on their mobile phones. The work done in this study has been able to provide a prototype platform to support Nigerian farmers with agrometeorological information and services for enhanced agricultural productivity and food security