As a positive development for farmers in Nigeria, the Federal Government has teamed up with John Deere, a renowned agricultural machinery company, Asia Private Limited and Tata Nigeria, to produce 2,000 tractors annually, to boost mechanised farming and food security.
This collaboration aims to set up a tractor plant in Nigeria, showing the government’s commitment at modernising agriculture and achieving self-sufficiency in food production. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, highlighted the benefits of the influx of tractors to include increased food production, job opportunities, and improved food and nutrition security. The tractors will not be directly purchased by the government, but will be made affordable to Nigerian farmers through a low interest rate, fostering all-year-round farming.
This development stems from a strategic meeting between Nigeria’s Vice President and John Deere officials, reflecting a shared vision to enhance agricultural practices in Nigeria. The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, has described the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as groundbreaking, emphasising its significance in fulfilling the promise of affordable tractors for farmers.
Kyari said, “This partnership is between the Ministry and John Deere to ensure that our farmers have access to affordable mechanisation equipment. This is purely a partnership for the offtake for the farmers, not the government taking, 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. The minimum is 2,000 tractors per year for five years, as the demand increases, we will be glad for that to happen they can manage any amount”. In his reaction, the Vice President of John Deere, Jason Brantley, underscored the importance of matching the right implements with the right tractor for diverse conditions across the country to scale up all-year round agro-productions.
