The Federal Government has disclosed the intention of an American tractor manufacturing firm to establish a tractor assembly plant in Nigeria.
This was disclosed in a release from the Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity in the office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha.
The statement noted that the intent of the company was one of the gains of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s trip to the United States.
According to the statement,
- “Details of the company’s interest to invest in Nigeria’s agricultural sector were made known during a meeting between VP Shettima and top officials of John Deere led by its Vice President on Production Systems, Mr Jason Brantley.”
It further said that the meeting between the company’s representatives and the Vice President’s team was facilitated by the Chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria, Mr John Coumantaros.
Also, in attendance was Minister of Agriculture, Sen. Abubakar Kyari; the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Ambassador Lot Egopija, and others.
Kashim Shettima’s statements
Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima reportedly said during the meeting,
- “Without mechanization, you can never be truly self-sufficient in food production. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fully committed to revitalizing the Nigerian agricultural sector and for us to be self-sufficient in food production, three key elements are essential.
- First is certified seeds, then mechanization, provision of fertilizer, and course, agricultural extension services,”
The Vice President also spoke on the platform provided by the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs) and how investors can leverage it to add value to Nigeria’s agri-value chain.
He also used the opportunity to remind investors of President Tinubu’s declaration of emergency regarding food security earlier in August.
Top executive of the company speak
A senior executive at John Deere, Mr Brantley said the endeavour to set up a tractor assembly plant would not necessitate any government investment.
Instead, it calls for credit guarantees to facilitate access to affordable credit for individuals or groups interested in this endeavour.
Mr. Brantley conveyed the company’s eagerness to promptly initiate discussions with Nigerian authorities to realize the goal of establishing the assembly plant.
Need this w welcome development to reach me and my people for farming. Thanks again my vp
John Deere tractors, though super quality can be super expensive as well. They already have agents in Nigeria such as Dizengoff WA, but I believe the high cost of their equipment has limited their use to just a few elite commercial farms like Olam farms, Flourmill farms etc. Therefore, for the company to succeed in this proposed project, the credit arrangement has to be really favorable and easily accessible to medium sized farms and farmers’ cooperatives who currently prefer fairly used tractors and new tractors from Asia which are considerably cheaper to own.
Stopped reading at “intent”…another audio investment.