FG Unveils Agric Mechanisation Policy, Plans 4,000-Capacity Tractor Plant

Nigeria's Federal Government has unveiled a comprehensive National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy and a corresponding Investment Strategy, signaling a significant push to transform the nation's agricultural sector. The initiative aims to elevate Nigeria from its current "agricultural potential" to an "agricultural powerhouse" and achieve "food sovereignty."

Central to this strategy is the plan to establish a major tractor assembly plant capable of producing between 2,000 and 4,000 units annually. This move is intended to reduce Nigeria's dependence on imported agricultural machinery, foster local production, create jobs, and cultivate a sustainable mechanization economy. The government also announced the commencement of procurement and deployment for 2,000 tractors and over 9,000 assorted implements and spare parts under the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme.

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It takes more than land, more than good intentions to produce efficiently, competitively and sustainably to build our food systems. This is why today’s National Policy Dialogue is so important.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, emphasized that agricultural mechanization extends beyond tractors to encompass a wide range of services, including land preparation, planting, irrigation, crop protection, harvesting, processing, storage, logistics, precision agriculture, digital technologies, financing, and maintenance. The policy promotes a "Mechanization-as-a-Service" model, ensuring that technology is accessible to farmers when and where needed, at commercially viable and sustainable costs.

Kyari described the current intervention as the largest single agricultural mechanization program ever undertaken in Africa. He urged investors, youths, and women to actively participate and "take ownership" of this emerging mechanization economy, highlighting the potential for growth and development within the sector.

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Our ambition, therefore, must be larger than equipment ownership. We must build a Mechanization-as-a-Service economy in which technology reaches the farmer when and where it is needed, at a cost that is commercially viable and sustainably financed. This is the direction in which Government is moving.