The Federal Government has unveiled a new agricultural mechanisation policy and investment strategy aimed at modernising Nigeria’s agricultural sector, increasing food production and reducing dependence on imported farm machinery.
The initiative, unveiled by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, in Abuja, includes plans for a mega tractor assembly plant with an annual production capacity of between 2,000 and 4,000 tractors.
The National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy and National Agricultural Mechanisation Investment Strategy are designed to attract private capital, expand farmers’ access to machinery and strengthen local capacity for the production, maintenance and servicing of agricultural equipment.
Speaking at a national policy dialogue on agricultural mechanisation, Kyari said the government was moving away from fragmented interventions centred mainly on tractor procurement towards a commercially driven system supported by private investment and sustainable mechanisation services.
He said the framework would bring together capital, technology, skills and entrepreneurship while ensuring farmers could access appropriate machinery when and where needed.
Kyari disclosed that the government had commenced the procurement and deployment of 2,000 tractors, alongside more than 9,000 implements and spare parts, under the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme.
Although he described the intervention as the largest single agricultural mechanisation programme undertaken in Africa, the minister stressed that success should not be measured by the number of tractors purchased.
According to him, the key measure would be whether the machines remain productive, properly maintained, adequately financed and accessible to farmers.
He said the new mechanisation strategy would extend beyond tractors to cover land preparation, planting, irrigation, crop protection, harvesting, threshing, processing, storage, logistics and transportation.
The planned tractor assembly plant, he added, would reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported machinery, strengthen domestic industrial capacity and create employment opportunities.
Kyari urged investors to look beyond equipment supply and invest in a wider agricultural technology and services ecosystem, citing Nigeria’s large agricultural market, expanding agro-processing sector, youthful population and significant unmet demand for mechanisation services.
He also said young people, women and persons with disabilities would be integrated into the sector as equipment operators, technicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, equipment managers and service providers.
The minister cited Borno State as an example of state-level support for agricultural development, noting that the state government had distributed 200 truckloads of fertiliser and facilitated more than a dozen solar-powered irrigation systems.
Kyari also commended TracTrac Mechanization Services Limited for training young Nigerians and deploying small-scale tractors to support smallholder farmers.
He said successful implementation of the framework would require coordinated efforts among the Federal Government, state governments, private investors, financial institutions, development partners, research institutions and farmers.
The Federal Government, he explained, would provide policy direction, standards, coordination and the investment architecture, while states would support land access, infrastructure and implementation.
Private investors would provide capital, innovation and mechanisation services, while financial institutions would develop financing, leasing and risk-sharing mechanisms. Development partners, he added, would provide catalytic funding, technical expertise and institutional support.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, said Nigeria must urgently address its mechanisation deficit to increase agricultural productivity and achieve food security.
Ogunbiyi said farmers continued to face inadequate machinery, high production drudgery, limited access to appropriate technologies and weak investment across the agricultural value chain.
He stressed that tractors alone could not transform agriculture, noting that operators, maintenance and financing were equally important.
According to him, the National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy would provide the strategic direction for the sector, while the investment strategy would establish a framework for mobilising resources to implement it.
He said the emerging mechanisation economy would create opportunities in equipment assembly and leasing, maintenance, spare-parts production, digital fleet management, operator training, irrigation, post-harvest technology and agro-processing.
The Chief Executive of TracTrac MSL, Godson Ohuruogu, said the company had reached more than 500,000 farmers since commencing operations six years ago.
Ohuruogu said the company had catalysed more than N2 billion in investment and trained over 6,000 young people, women and persons with disabilities through its ISSAM Project with the Mastercard Foundation.
He added that the initiative had created more than 3,000 jobs in one year, established 567 youth- and women-led cooperatives and facilitated the deployment of hundreds of tractors and nearly 2,000 labour-saving devices.
Ohuruogu said the experience demonstrated the potential of public-private partnerships when agricultural interventions were structured around the needs of smallholder farmers.
He urged stakeholders to measure the success of the new policy by its impact on farmers, particularly whether mechanisation services become affordable, reliable and available when required.
He stressed that access to finance, technology and inclusive service delivery would be critical to ensuring that the new framework translates into practical improvements in Nigeria’s agricultural sector rather than becoming another policy document.
