Experts canvass mechanisation to boost agric productivity

Experts are canvassing mechanisation and improved technology to boost agric productivity if the government is to diversify its revenue through agriculture, eradicate rural poverty, reduce rural-urban drift and attract youth into agriculture.
The experts identify low level of agric mechanisation as the biggest challenges of farmers in the country. They stated that it has continued to limit the capacity of farmers to expand their cultivation areas and perform timely operations.

“Mechanisation is a very critical issue because it will help to boost productivity and eradicate poverty rural farmers,” Sani Dangote, president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) and vice president of Dangote Industries Limited said in an interview with BusinessDay.

“If farmers continue to use crude equipment, their poverty can never be eradicated. Farmers need to farm and harvest their produce using mechanisation in order to increase production and profits,” he said.

Dangote stated that the only way youths could find agriculture attractive is through mechanised farming. “With mechanisation, agriculture becomes attractive for the youths and they can take it up as a profession,” Dangote added.

Nigeria is listed among the least countries in the world with mechanised farming. The rate of the use of agricultural machinery is still below that which is considered necessary to meet the rising demand for food, as stipulated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Available statistics show that Nigeria is one of the least mechanised farming countries in the world with the country’s tractor density put at 0.27 hp/ hectare which is far below the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s 1.5hp/hectare recommended tractor density for Africa and other developing countries.

When measured on mechanisation scale in 2003, 12 years ago, Nigeria had only 30,000 tractors and currently adding 1,000 new ones each year, which is still not considered sufficient in replacing the ones that are aging, broken down and worn out.

Afioluwa Mogaji, chief executive officer, X-ray Farms Limited said, “It is time the government takes the issue of mechanisation very seriously. Farmers cannot boost productivity without a high level of mechanisation.”

On a per capita basis, Nigeria ranks 132nd out of the 188 countries worldwide, measured by FAO and the United Nations (UN) in terms of the number of tractors in the country.

Ademola Adefemi, who runs a 10 hectare of maize and cassava in Ogun State, said, “ I love using tractors for tilling the land and ploughing but most times it is difficult to get it on time because other farmers want to hire it too. The few tractors we have are not given to farmers because government officials prefer keeping them instead of leasing it out to farmers.”
“The tractors we have are not enough and the few available ones are very expensive to hire,” he added.

In view of these challenges, experts urged the government to provide Special Agric Mechanisation Intervention Fund (SAMIF), which should be domiciled in deposit money banks to provide matching funds to give loans at single digit interest rate for mechanisation.

They also call on the government to create an environment that is conducive for farm machinery manufacturers, to establish assembly plants and also provide special funds to agricultural institutions to undertake research and development for local manufacture of agricultural machinery and implements.

“Government must in the interim partner with at least 2 reputable tractor manufacturers to establish Complete Knocked Down (CKD) assembly plants, but in the long term encourage the design and manufacture of indigenous tractors, implement the use of local tractors and other equipment,” Yakubu said.

Josephine Okojie