…say FG shouldn’t waste money on new ones
Operators in the agricultural sector have asked the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, to fix the over 60,000 abandoned tractors across the country rather than wasting money on the purchase of new 10,000 tractors promised rural farmers last week.
The Federal Government, on Thursday, had signed an agreement with an international tractor manufacturing firm to provide 10,000 tractors to rural farmers across the country.
According to Ogbeh, the project will ensure effective delivery of the tractors to farmers in the 774 local government areas of the country through the 2,500 Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises to be established in the respective locations.
Govt should stop wasting money on new equipment, but should upgrade abandoned ones
The farmers had lamented what they described as exploitation on the part of the intermediaries between them and the Federal Government.
But President, National Federation of Cowpea Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Kabiru Mohammed, explained that it was not as if the country had a shortage of tractors, but that a lot of them had been abandoned at the regional offices of the ministry across the nation.
Mohammed alleged that the development had made intermediaries to frustrate farmers’ production as the tractors, in most cases, spent years with the ministry before some of them were distributed.
“It is regrettable that the government does not give farm equipment directly to farmers. It should create the enabling environment for farmers by bringing in farm equipment, which should be given directly to the farmers and not through ministers, who will leave them until they get spoilt,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, the Managing Partner, Pacific Farms Limited, Mr. Shina Taiwo, frowned on the new MoU the minister signed last Thursday.
According to him, this is not a time to waste money on new tractors as he expected the minister to go round the nation and check the state of the equipment to see if the old ones could be revived or mordernised, rather than buying new ones.
He narrated his experience with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Abeokuta, which he described as frustrating, as he alleged that some officials of the ministry abused their office.
According to him, some of the officials had asked him and some farmers to apply for the equipment shortly after the supplies were made, but all to no avail, as they were later informed that the tractors would be hired to farmers.
He said, “Government should stop wasting money on new equipment, but should discuss with the manufacturers on how they can upgrade the new but abandoned ones. Some of the officials of the ministry across regions do deals with the tractors, which is an abuse of office.
“Most of the tractors across the regions were brought in as brand new and parked there for years with the impression that the ministry would soon sell or hire them to farmers. We were shocked as they reduced from 20 to five and none of us benefitted from them.”
Last Thursday, the minister signed an MoU with the Nigerian Agricultural Mechanisation and Equipment Leasing Company and John Deere Tractor Manufacturing Company, in Abuja.
Ogbeh said that for over 30 years, the Federal Government had repeatedly made efforts to address the agricultural mechanisation challenge in Nigeria, a development that affected the sector adversely.
He said the project would be closely monitored as farm inputs were being distributed across the local
governments.
The minister said the initiative would help increase food production, adding that the government’s expectation was to realise one million tractors in 15 years.
He applauded the farm equipment hiring associations for their ingenuity, stressing the need to improve on the relationship with John
Deere.
“In the next 15 years, we should be looking at something close to a million tractors in this country because dry season and irrigation agriculture has to grow. Not every farmer needs a tractor; not every farmer should or can afford a tractor, and since the bulk of our farmers are smallholders, they rely on the services you (John Deere) provide,” the minister had said.
