.Set up assembly plants

To increase access to agriculture mechanization, the federal government and an American manufacturing company, John Deere and Tata have signed a memorandum of understanding to provide tractors to farmers at a.n affordable rate

The agreement which also includes establishment of assembling plants in Nigeria provided a flexible payment plan for farmers between five and six years.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, while speaking after the MoU signing, said the potentials is enormous but majorly to address the challenges of mechanization in the country’s agriculture, saying the country is grossly under mechanized with only 50,000 serviceable tractors for the country’s over 70 million hectares of land.

He said: “initially we started with the assumption that we require up to 2000 tractors but I think the demand has shown that it may even increase. So even with 2000 tractors, it means we can add up to at least 1.6 million hectares per year.”

“Nigeria is grossly under mechanised, we have today less that 50,000 serviceable, workable tractors today, and a country with at least 70 million hectares of land, it is grossly inadequate, and I think this is a way to go and to modernise our agriculture”, the Minister said.

Kyari further stated that John Deere will also bring in capacity building, where they will train Nigerian mechanics and artisans to maintain the equipment.

“The original arrangement is for 2000 tractors per year, but what we saying is that it depends on how much the farmers are willing to take.

“This is purely a partnership for the off-take for the farmers, not the government taking, but what the government is supposed to do is to have an environment that is very conducive for John Deere to sell the tractors to the farmers”, he noted.

He said the role of the ministry is to make sure that the ease of doing business is achieved in terms of creating access to finance to the farmers so that they can purchase the tractor.

The Vice President of John Deere, Jason Braintley while speaking with journalists after the MoU signing, said the company is excited about the agreement with the Ministry and Tata Nigeria.

He said the agreement was critical for raising yield and food security and also for raising farmers’ income and they are looking forward to taking the next step.

“We are really excited with the agreement because it signifies that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, John Deere and Tata Nigeria see several opportunities to take proven practices in Nigeria and scale them up to make mechanization more available for more farmers.

“John Deere has been active in Nigeria for decades and we have tractors running all the way from north to south, we have equipment that will thrive in the country’s soil and climatic conditions. We also recognise that at the individual community level the choice of implements will be really important, so one of the things we talked about is that we match up the right implement with the right tractor in the right area”, Braintley said.

He said the assembly plant is in planning right now and Tata Nigeria is going to be taking that forward, and information about the plant is expected in the near future.