Smallholder farmers in Nigeria are set to benefit, as the Tinubu administration will distribute tractors for everyone to go and improve their farming.
The Federal Government says it is working on special plans to ensure that the newly procured Belarus tractors will benefit smallholder farmers across the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu launched 2,000 tractors and over 9,000 modern agricultural implements on June 23 to boost agriculture on over 550,000 hectares of farmland across the country.
This was disclosed in Abuja by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, on the sidelines of this year's World Food Day celebration.
Senator Abdullahi said the President has directed that the tractors should not be owned by a few elites or end up in the wrong hands.
“We received a direct order from the President to design a program that will enable smallholder farmers to access these tractors through the modern agricultural extension centers we plan to establish.”
“We are currently at the final stage and want to ensure that before the next rainy season, these tractors reach the farmers,” he said.
He added that the new tractors are equipped with modern technology that allows for remote monitoring of their condition via a technological system.
The Minister said there are plans for training and the provision of spare parts to ensure the sustainability of the equipment's use, while also providing youth with the opportunity to learn how to operate them.
“We want to ensure that these tractors remain useful for a long time. We will train youth on how to use them, and there is a provision for spare parts to maintain them properly,” Abdullahi said.
According to him, the tractors will soon be deployed to modern agricultural extension centers to enable smallholder farmers to farm with ease and at a lower cost.
This program has been described as a government effort to ease the difficulty of farming, increase crop yields, and provide job opportunities for youth and women in the country.
The report also indicated that the program is expected to help produce over two million metric tons of nutritious food across the country.