The federal government has disclosed it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an American firm John Deere where the company would supply Nigeria with around 2000 tractors yearly in the next five years.
The move according to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari is geared towards solving the problem of land preparation and mechanised farming across the country.
The Minister noted that the disparity between total arable land and those available for cultivation is partly due to the unavailability of tractors for farmers.
- According to him, “Then the issue of ‘tractorisation’. We have an MoU with John Deere where they are expected to supply 2,000 tractors per year for 5 years, but they are going to sell those tractors under a financing agreement.”
- “And we have engaged the bank of agriculture to also come up with the modalities about how we can now give low-interest loans to farmers to get those tractors for those that are interested in it.”
The Green imperative program
The Minister also explained that beyond the MoU with the company, the federal government is also looking at ways to ensure farmers without the capacity to afford the tractors get to hire them through the “green imperative program”.
He noted that it is a $1 billion project financed by Deutsche Bank where service centres will be established across the 774 LGAs in the country where farmers can hire tractors as well as access other agro-related services.
The program according to the Minister has been successfully implemented in Brazil.
Backstory
- Last year during a visit to the United States, Vice President Sen. Kashim Shettima met with top officials of tractor manufacturing firm, John Deere where plans were made to establish a tractor manufacturing firm in Nigeria to boost mechanised farming.
- Agriculture in Nigeria is mostly subsistence with farmers relying on aged tools and equipment which significantly reduces the size of land cultivated and yield per hectare.
- In recent times, the country’s agricultural belt has dealt with the problem of insecurity such as the farmer-herder crisis and banditry.
