The Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has said that many Nigerian farmers and rice millers are unable to benefit from the Federal Government’s agricultural mechanisation programme due to the high cost of farm machinery and limited access to finance.
Speaking on the programme, the National Chairman of the association, Peter Dama, said the major challenge is not the availability of equipment but the financial capacity of farmers and processors to acquire or access mechanisation services.
According to Dama, rising machinery costs and prevailing economic conditions have discouraged many farmers from participating in the initiative, as tractors and other essential farm equipment have become increasingly unaffordable.
He called on the Federal Government to prioritise affordable technologies that better meet the needs of smallholder farmers, recommending the wider deployment of solar-powered irrigation pumps and compact tilling machines that consume less fuel and are easier to maintain.
Dama noted that such equipment is already gaining acceptance among farmers, adding that manufacturers from China and Japan have introduced smaller machines specifically designed for small-scale agricultural operations.
Commenting on the rice milling industry, he said large-scale processors are facing mounting financial pressure as production costs continue to rise, while smaller millers are coping relatively better because of their lower operating expenses.
He identified electricity, petrol and diesel costs as some of the biggest factors driving up processing expenses and reducing profitability across the rice value chain.
The association’s chairman also expressed concern over the impact of the new national minimum wage on businesses, saying many employers are struggling to meet higher salary obligations while contending with increasing operational costs and declining earnings.
On access to tractors, Dama maintained that financing remains the greatest obstacle to mechanisation, explaining that only financially strong farmers or well-organised cooperatives operating within the same locality are likely to benefit from tractor financing arrangements.
He observed that while cooperatives are encouraged to pool resources, such arrangements become impractical when members are spread across different states, making it difficult to efficiently share agricultural equipment.
According to him, limited access to affordable finance continues to be the biggest barrier preventing the widespread adoption of mechanised farming in Nigeria.
The Federal Government launched the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme in June 2025, unveiling 2,000 tractors, 10 combine harvesters, 12 mobile workshops and more than 9,000 farm implements acquired through a partnership with Belarus.
The programme is designed to operate through mechanisation service providers rather than direct ownership by farmers and is expected to support more than 550,000 farming households, cultivate over 500,000 hectares annually and boost national food production.
Implementation of the initiative was later assigned to the Bank of Agriculture, which delayed distribution to establish a transparent framework for equipment allocation, maintenance and repayment. The bank subsequently opened applications for mechanisation service providers, receiving more than 100,000 expressions of interest before commencing distribution under the programme in February 2026.
