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.
Amazing!. So our V.P went to the US and saw how mechanised farming is done and decided to come and implement same in Nigeria. I bet he also saw how ranching is done and how big and productive the cows in the US private ranches are but didn’t think he should call to order the herdsmen killing thousands unfairly over grazing rights and open their blind eyes to the immense profits awaiting them if private ranching is implemented in their own states not imposed on others. See. We all know what is right for us but deliberately leave what is right undone and pay lipservice to it. The Fair Judge on the Throne judges everything .
The VP has a masters degree in Agriculture and was a university lecturer in Agriculture before joining the banking sector. He knows all about the different farming methods and agricultural practices.
I’m interested
The guest ture is a loudable one but both the state and federal government should aggressively embark on farming of arable plants.This plant will matured between 2 to 4 or 8 months, it will reduce hardship in the nation
Government has no business in business, the tractors should be financed by a commercial bank the Government should provide all the needed help with waivers on import duty and possibly an interest rate rebate program noting the prevailing high interest rates.
Government has embarked on similar projects in the past and the tractors end up on private farms and those left in the local government are just carcasses of tractors which key components have been removed and sold off.
If this news item is true and not just another sound bite, these tractors MUST be managed by private sector tractor service provider operators else it will still be another exercise in futility only going to enrich corrupt politicians and farmer association’s Excos.