The federal government has disclosed it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an American firm John Deere where the company would supply Nigeria with around 2000 tractors yearly in the next five years.
The move according to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari is geared towards solving the problem of land preparation and mechanised farming across the country.
The Minister noted that the disparity between total arable land and those available for cultivation is partly due to the unavailability of tractors for farmers.
The Minister also explained that beyond the MoU with the company, the federal government is also looking at ways to ensure farmers without the capacity to afford the tractors get to hire them through the “green imperative program”.
He noted that it is a $1 billion project financed by Deutsche Bank where service centres will be established across the 774 LGAs in the country where farmers can hire tractors as well as access other agro-related services.
The program according to the Minister has been successfully implemented in Brazil.
