Business
FG Approves N3.6bn For Agric Mechanisation
The Federal Government
has approved N3.6 billion to support the establishment of Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprise (AEHE) nationwide, Agric Minister Akinwunmi Adesina, said.
He said this recently at an interactive session with mechanisation intervention partners in Abuja.
Adesina, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Ibukun Odusote, said mechanisation in an agrarian country like Nigeria must be taken very seriously.
The minister said that the initiative would enable the country to attain the desired height of putting agriculture at the fore front of the economy.
“To kick-start the implementation of this framework, I approved an intervention scheme to serve as a pilot with N3.6 billion released by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development towards financing the establishment of the Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprise (AEHE).
“The funds in the first phase will make available 400 units of tractors, 500 power tillers, and various harvest and post harvest equipment to set up 80 centres.’’
Adesina said government was aware of the challenges that had bedevilled the mechanisation sector in the past years, in spite of past efforts to subsidise the cost of tractors at 45 per cent.
He said that the small scale farmers that produced 80 per cent of the nation’s food had very little or no access to these subsidised machinery.
Adesina said the second phase would achieve similar results like the first but that the third phase would acquire 250 tractors through the partnership programme.
He predicted that at the end of the first, second and third phases, the intervention scheme would bring in 1050 units of tractors, 1500 power tillers and 2400 units of various harvest and post-equipment such as rice reapers, grain threshers and cassava peelers.
Adesina said also that about 210 units of the equipment would be located in demand driven locations nationwide.
He said that the intervention would also create 6,090 direct jobs, mechanise a minimum of 488,250 hectares of land.
Adesina said that the AEHEs would be run by the private sector, adding that the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) would cover the programme.
In her remarks, Odusote, who was represented by a Director in the minister’s office, Dr Damilola Eniaiyeju, said the success of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) depended on mechanisation.
She said in spite of government’s efforts to mechanise agriculture over the years, it was still at 0.027 horse power per hectare.
Odusote said the dismal state of mechanisation had led to the formation of advisory committee saddled with the responsibility of producing a workable mechanisation frame work to support the agricultural transformation agenda.
She said for a start, government was clearing 6,400 hectares of land nationwide for cassava production, adding that farmers through the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme would access effective tractor services and enable them own their tractors.
Mr Thomas Atsu, who spoke on behalf of the lead-accredited vendor/manufacturers’ representatives, expressed satisfaction with government mechanisation programme.
He said tractor vendors were happy with the programme and urged the banking sector to help finance vendors and farmers to achieved mechanisation.
On his part, the Managing Director, Bank of Agriculture, Dr Mohammed Santuraki, said the bank was known for its positive investments.
He applauded the minister for the intervention, adding that the major challenge facing agriculture in Africa was mechanisation.
Santuraki expressed the determination of the bank to support for the programme, saying ‘’only through mechanisation will agriculture be transformed from a development programme to a business’’.
Highlight of the event was the signing of performance agreement between the ministry and the accredited vendors, manufacturers and representatives.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.