Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar has Flag-Off the fisrt phase of Tractorization Program for farmers under the Agricultural Equipment hiring Enterprise to provide effective mechanization services to Farmers.
While flagging off the programme in Kaduna, the Minister said Agricultural sector remains amongst the key sector driving the nation economy till date.
He explained that, due to scarcity of tractors in country, his Ministry in collaboration with the Bank of Agriculture BOA and the Private Sector agreed to support the Government by making tractors with implements available to farmers at a concessionary deferred payment terms.
Dr Mohammed Abubakar stressed that, Farmers and Mechanization Service Providers would make a Down-Payment of only 40% to acquire the tractors and the payment of the remaining 60% is spread over a period of 36monthss.
He commended the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Bank of Agriculture, Vendors and other stakeholders for the commitment on the initiative.
Dr Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar also noted that , Agriculture contributed 23.78% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the 2nd Quarter of 2021, stressing that, the sector is equally the largest employer of labour in the country.
According to him, there was a general decline in Agricultural equipment acquisition to match with the increasing population.
“Our current tractorization density of 0.027hp/ha is far away from the FAO’s Recommendation of 1.5hp/ha. There is a nexus between level of production and machinery utilization”
The Minister further revealed that, the vital role of Agriculture in the Nigerian economy makes it necessary for the Sector to be re-invigorated through tractor acquisition in order to achieve food security.
According to him, President Mohammadu Buhari administration will continue to provide conducive environment upon which similar laudable program can be duplicated to provide the dividends of democracy.
Ealier, the Managing Director, Bank of Agriculture, Alhaji Alwan Ali Hassan stated that, Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO has recommended a mechanisation rate of 1.5 horsepower per hectare while Nigeria is currently operating a rate of 0.27 horsepower per hectare which is greatly inadequate.
Alhaji Alwan Hassan explained that, the programme was a step towards increasing the availability of mechanised agricultural equipments and beef up mechanization rate of the country.
He said the agricultural mechanisation programme is a public private partnership arrangement where each of the parties is required to abide by the terms of condition to ensure success of the programme.
Kaduna State Commissioner for Agriculture also attended the event among other critical stakeholders in Agricultural sector.
COV/AMINU DALHATU
