Stakeholders in the agricultural mechanisation sector have unveiled an investment financing platform to facilitate investment in the deployment of 250,000 tractors in the country over the next five years.

The Mechanisation Investment Facility financing platform, flagged off by TracTrac Mechanisation Services Limited, will also strengthen and expand the capacity of 500,000 Mechanisation Service Providers (MSPs), and catalyse the establishment of 10 agricultural equipment assembly plants in the country.

The Facility was unveiled at the TracTrac Mechanisation Investment Roadshow held yesterday in Abuja, which had in attendance banks, government agencies, development finance institutions, foundations, private investors, equipment manufacturers and regulators to explore opportunities for strengthening investment in agricultural mechanisation.

The Chief Executive Officer of TracTrac Mechanisation Services Limited, Godson Ohuruogu, stated that the mechanisation gap in the country cannot be closed if the subsector is being treated as a development aid.

He harped on the need to build an investable ecosystem around it, such that it gives capital providers confidence, enables service providers to grow, as well as gives young Nigerians the opportunity to build and lead in the ecosystem.

He revealed that Nigeria has about seven tractors per 100 square kilometres of farmland, compared with 35 in Kenya and a global benchmark of 195, saying with approximately 90 per cent of farming still carried out manually, expanding access to appropriate machinery and sustainable financing remains critical to improving agricultural productivity and strengthening food systems.

Ohuruogu stated that the roadshow followed seven stakeholder roundtables convened over the past two months and builds on the Improving Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Small-Scale Agricultural Mechanisation Services (ISSAM) programme, a Mastercard Foundation programme implemented by TracTrac.

He said as part of this work, TracTrac partnered with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to convene the 2026 National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy Dialogue, which brought stakeholders together to strengthen Nigeria’s policy and investment framework for agricultural mechanisation.

He stated that the Investment Roadshow was an offshoot of the Policy Dialogue to bring together capital providers and other ecosystem actors to explore practical pathways for financing and scaling mechanisation across Nigeria.

The TracTrac boss further explained that the Mechanisation Investment Facility is designed to enable institutions to lend and invest directly in mechanisation businesses and enterprises, rather than pooling capital into a single fund.

“The Facility will leverage TracTrac’s data, digital monitoring systems and risk-sharing mechanisms to provide capital providers with greater visibility into the performance and demand of mechanisation businesses, while helping service providers, cooperatives, equipment owners and agribusinesses access financing,” he stated.

The Investment and Asset Management Lead, TracTrac, Jemimah Jennifer Justus, in her presentation said service providers and cooperatives don’t lack demand; they lack access to the right finance, saying the Facility will help move funds by opening a path to financing that has largely been unavailable through conventional lending in the ecosystem.

She further explained that the Facility will support a broader ecosystem in which mechanisation businesses can access capital to acquire equipment, expand operations, improve service delivery and contribute to the development of Nigeria’s agricultural equipment value chain.

As part of the Roadshow, TracTrac spotlighted young Nigerians developing solutions for agricultural mechanisation through the ₦1 million Pitch Challenge, wherein five finalists pitched at the Roadshow, with one winner receiving ₦1 million.

The initiative was built on youth-focused conversations during the National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy Dialogue to position young people as operators, entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders in the mechanisation economy.

The National Secretary of the Tractor Owners and Hiring Association of Nigeria (TROHAN), during his remarks, noted that the problem they are facing is high interest rates by commercial banks, saying what they need is a friendlier financing portfolio with lower interest rates and longer repayment periods.

He revealed that they had embarked on a tractor financing arrangement with Sterling Bank in the past; however, they have not been able to embark on any other arrangement due to high financing costs.