The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has decried the low level of mechanisation as a major set-back for the attainment of food security in the country, and called for an improvement on the issue.

Adesina said the poor level is hindering the attraction of youth to agriculture to expand cultivated areas, to perform timely farm operations and to achieve economies of scale in raising food production.

The minister said this at the recent launching of newly-completed projects and equipment commercialisation programme by the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM) in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Adesina said the central government, through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), is accelerating access of farmers to adequate mechanisation services, improved seeds and fertilisers. 

He said the NCAM, an agency under the Ministry, has the mandate of accelerating the pace of mechanisation in the agricultural sector of the economy, in order to increase the quantity and quality of agricultural products in Nigeria.

He also added that "NCAM, in line with the ATA, has developed appropriate and adapted agricultural machines that are on display today. These machines will be distributed to 18 states of the Federation and will provide the platform for awareness promotion and field testing that will subsequently provide the initial building blocks that will drive their commercialisation."

He expressed belief that the operations of the machines in the States would create necessary awareness that would drive demand and encourage investors to mass-produce them under equipment manufacturing conditions.

Speaking further, Adesina said NCAM has made tremendous progress in providing the amenities necessary for agricultural mechanisation research and development. These, he said, included the completion of the Engine Tractor and Farming Machines Development Complex.

One of the notable achievements of NCAM on the day was the launch of a "Triketor", which is a 3-wheeled mini-tractor developed as a result of collaboration between NCAM and Bespoke Design Concept; an achievement which the Minister said could be referred to as a first step in achieving the first 'Made in Nigeria' tractor.

The Minister was impressed with the partnership between NCAM and Bespoke and stressed the need for aggressive privatisation and commercialisation of agricultural machinery in Nigeria.

In his words, "Private sector must play this lead role. Government has sunk several billions of naira in the past years into purchase of tractors and other mechanised equipment, but corruption and lack of maintenance culture have made these efforts unsuccessful. Government direct procurement and distribution of tractors was riddled with corruption, as old refurbished tractors were sold to government as new tractors. That is why this government ended government procurement and distribution of tractors."

He disclosed that the government has attracted the private investor to invest in the sector, to assure the supply of quality tractors, equipment, and mechanised services for farmers across the country.

In his welcome address, the Executive Director, NCAM, Mr. Ike Azogu, said the main function of NCAM is to make sure that there is a reduction in drudgery, through the provision of simple, efficient and cost effective machines and processes that would ensure food security and meet the industrial raw materials and export needs of the nation.

The launch of NCAM equipment commercialisation programme, according to him, was aimed at moving developed agricultural equipment from research to the farmers under a field testing arrangement. This, he believed, would confirm their efficacies under business conditions.

While appreciating the unflinching support of the National Assembly at providing mechanisation solutions to Nigerian farmers, Azogu appealed for an upward review of fund allocation to the Centre to enable it perform optimally. He said NCAM is working towards self-reliance in agricultural machinery supply that would free the country from the shackles of importations from Asia countries.