NAMEL, Mantrac to open up 500,000 hectares for farming

The Nigerian Agricultural Mechanisation and Equipment Leasing (NAMEL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mantrac Nigeria to open up an additional 500,000 hectares of farmland to boost mechanised farming in the country.

The project is targeted towards developing a minimum of 10,000 hectares of arable land per state in collaboration with the federal, state, local government and the private sector.

The objectives of the programme include increasing food production to about 2,500 metric tonnes yearly within five years and to also de-stump about 1million hectares of poorly cleared land in the country.

The Chief Executive Officer NAMEL, Dr Ahmed Adekunle, during the signing of MOU with Mantrac, Abuja, said the need to further develop farmland was from the backdrop of 10,000 units of tractors that were to be deployed into the country in four tranches of 2,500.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, commended the initiative, saying there was compelling need to further boost Nigeria’s aagricultural mechanization to increase food production due to increasing population.