From all indications, the Federal Government has been striving to promote the food security of the country.

Observers say that the government has demonstrated its determination to boost food production in the country via its sustained support to the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), for instance.

They note that the government’s efforts are essentially based on the fact that no nation can satisfy the food requirements of its citizens it solely relies on subsistence farming.

NCAM was set up by Degree No. 35 of 1990 (now an Act of the National Assembly), with the overall objective of accelerating the pace of mechanisation in the agricultural sector.

Speaking on mechanised farming, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, maintained that it was only mechanised farming that could guarantee Nigeria’s food security.

The minister made the assertion recently in Ilorin during the launch of some machines developed by NCAM.

Adesina stressed that mechanisation services were included in the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) of the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) because of the importance of mechanised farming.

At the event, NCAM displayed some of its innovative fabrications like Tricketor — the first made-in-Nigeria tractor.

The minister gave the assurance that the machines produced by NCAM would be distributed to 18 states across the country for endorsement and subsequent commercialisation.

However, Adesina used the occasion to assure the country’s farmers that tangible efforts were underway to supply them with quality equipment and mechanised services.

He said that the Federal Government had been able to attract AGCO, the world’s leading manufacturer of tractors, to invest about $100 million (about N16 billion) in the country.

Besides, the minister said that an all-inclusive private sector-driven equipment hiring scheme had been introduced to improve the farmers’ access to affordable mechanised services.

Adesina said that the hiring of machines would be subsidised and managed through private sector-driven Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprise in “priority’’ sites across the country.

He pledged that 60 of such enterprises would be established across the country and equipped with 300 units of tractors, 1, 590 planting, harvesting and post-harvesting agricultural equipment.

Adesina said that the Federal Government, in partnership with the Bank of Agriculture and the private sector would provide N3.5 billion for the programme’s implementation.

“The Federal Government will provide 35 per cent of the funds; the Bank of Agriculture will provide 35 per cent, while the private sector will provide the remaining 30 per cent as equity contributions.

“We expect that the private sector will deploy 10,000 units of tractors, planting implements, harvest and post-harvest equipment between 2013 and 2015.

“The mechanisation approach of the ministry is structured to ensure 25 per cent local content of these tractors, while 75 per cent of the parts will be imported. They shall be locally assembled on Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) and Completely Knocked Down (CKD) bases,’’ he said.

Adesina expressed the hope that the tractor hiring centres would provide about 2,000 job opportunities for the youth, while expanding cultivated land area by 150, 000 hectares.

The minister projected that the venture would add about 600,000 tonnes of food to the country’s current food stock.

Mr Ike Azogu, the Executive Director of NCAM, said that the three-wheeled mini-tractor was developed in collaboration with Bespoke Design Concept Company.

He said that most of the components of Tricketor could be locally sourced.

Azogu solicited the Federal Government’s financial support to enable the centre to duplicate 10 prototypes of the machine in the various ecological zones of the country.

He also highlighted the other achievements of the centre, which included the development of cassava peeling machine, motorised sifter, pelletising machine, cassava screw press and direct discharge multi-purpose milling machine.

Some of the machines fabricated by NCAM include maize sheller, modified multi-crop thresher, melon sheller, oil palm processing line, combined cassava grating and chipping machine, as well as motorised groundnut decorticator, among others.

Besides, Azogu said that NCAM was able to adapt and improve on some imported machines such as rice mill, oil and filter press as well as hammer mill without sieves.

Experts believe that the government’s efforts to promote mechanised farming and the achievements so far recorded by NCAM would rekindle the interest of the youth in agriculture.

The need to promote mechanised farming is, however, not a country-specific challenge, as the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says that in sub-Saharan Africa, over 89 per cent of farm power is provided by human labour.

Observers note that most Nigerian youths have jettisoned farming for other professions because of the labour-intensive nature of agriculture in the country.

However, they urge the government to sustain its efforts to boost food production in the country via sustained investment in modern farming equipment.

They add that this will not only aid Nigeria in efforts to achieve a robust agricultural sector, it will also engender food sufficiency and job creation in the country.

Dariya writes for the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Veronica Dariya