Food Security: FG Takes Delivery of 255 Tractors for Distribution to Farmers

•To also give out 1,200 trailers 

•Hopes to conclude reorganisation, recapitalisation of Bank of Agriculture Q1 2025  

•Security budget opens farmlands for cultivation

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The federal government yesterday disclosed that it has taken delivery of 255 tractors out of the 2000 it signed with a private firm about a year ago to be distributed to farmers.

Agriculture and Food Security Minister, Senator Abubakar Kyari, who made this known while addressing newsmen at the State House on government’s moves to bring down food inflation currently at about 34 percent also stated that the government has commenced plan for the reorganisation and recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture which was expected to be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2025.

Kyari explained that all the efforts were moves by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration for its Renewed Hope Agenda geared towards reducing food inflation, increasing food production and reducing foreign currency expenditure.

The Minister said the 255 tractors that have arrived were contained in 85 containers with each having three tractors, adding that apart from the tractors, government will also distribute 1,200 trailers.

He further said government was expecting 9000 sets of spare parts that come with the procurement.

On the number of tractors received, the minister said: “Yesterday, (Monday), I think while some of the members were with me, we had to call the agents, and they have told us that they have 85 containers that have arrived, and they are coming almost on weekly basis.

“So, if you interpolate, every container takes about three tractors, so do the calculations. So we’re looking at about 200 and something, tractors that have arrived.

“But the commitment is not how much we have now, when are you going to give us the 2000 with all the 9000 implements? Because there will be 9000 implements. We are looking at 2000 tractors.

“That tractor in itself cannot do anything, but we have for every tractor, there is a plough. So we have 2000 ploughs. Every tractor there’s a harrow, there will be 2000 harrows. Every tractor will have a seeder, which is a planter. Then we’ll also have boom sprayer, which is 2000.

“Then, in addition, we have trailers, but the trailers, instead of 2,000 will be 1,200. The reason why it is like that was because we still have around… trailers are not something that spoil easily. We have some that NASENI has started rehabilitating. So they will be put together as part of the every tractor will have for those exercises.”

Speaking further, he said: “In addition, we also have 9000 sets of spare parts that will come with this particular procurement. Then we also have 10 combined harvesters of 330 horsepower.

“These are huge combined harvesters that will be able to do about one and a half hectares per hour. So if you just imagine, in one day, you’ll be able to do nothing less than 10 hectares. 10 hectares is like 13 football fields. So you could just imagine, in one day to harvest a cornfield in just one harvester.

“So we also have service vehicles, about 12 service vehicles that will come, it’s a mobile workshop with all the items that will be there that will be placed in all these areas that we’re going to have, those tractors.”

Kyari stressed that the recapitalisation of Bank of Agriculture would be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2025, to support funding of smallholder farming activities.

The recapitalisation of the bank which has been on for years, was seen as the panacea for inadequate funding of commercial agriculture, as statistical evidence showed that the highest commercial bank loan the sector had between 2014 and 2021, was N1.04 trillion in 2020 which was only 5.15 percent of the total commercial bank loan, in seven years.

He noted that the bank with about 109 branches has the potentials to aid funding for the agric sector.

His words: “Something that I also missed out is the reorganisation and recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture. It’s in the process, and very soon, within the first quarter of this year, you will see a report that will outline the reorganisation and the recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture.

“Bank of Agriculture has branches in all 109 senatorial districts, and can reach out easily to those farmers.

“What we are saying is the smallholder farmer lacks capital. So we have written to some banks, and we are also reorganising the Bank of Agriculture to support what the government is doing in the sense of public financing in the budgets and what have you.”

At a meeting of the National Council of Privatisation, NCP, in 2024, Vice President Kashim Shettima as Chairman of the Council had inaugurated a committee, headed by Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to work out modalities for the resuscitation of the bank.

The move was part of the government’s response to the escalating food insecurity, as part of strategic interventions aimed at mitigating the crisis.

Kyari explained that the efforts were complemented by public financing mechanisms, development partners, and private banks, collectively working to strengthen agricultural programs across the country.

The former Senator cited successful partnerships with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations organisation based in Rome.

In 2024, the positive outcomes of IFAD-funded projects—such as the Livelihood Improvement of Family Enterprise for the Niger Delta—led to an additional grant of $32 million, along with an extension of the project’s timeline, he revealed.

“So budget alone cannot support agriculture, but we have to look at development partners are there. We’re very excited, we’re happy with development partners. Case in point, IFAD, which is the International Fund for Agricultural Development, it’s a united nation Rome-based organisation.”

The Minister also noted that the government was addressing post-harvest losses through cold storage and improving logistics.

While acknowledging that the 2024 budget faced competing headlines nationwide, he emphasised the government’s commitment to security in the 2025 budget.

He noted that many of the agricultural gains seen in 2024 were tied to newly accessible farmlands in regions previously hindered by insecurity.

According to him: “I’m sure you must have seen the budget and by having 2024 there are competing needs in Nigeria, but you must also appreciate that one area that we are highly excited about is the emphasis on security by Mr President in 2025 Budget.

“We have seen, and we know that some of the results, the successes that we received in 2024 were as a result of some of those inaccessible lands due to insecurity that opened up. Case in point is Borno State, where the terrorism was very high.

“My own local government (Mobbar) before now was not even accessible to farmers, but there is one place where, along the river as long as 18 kilometers that they did bumper harvest of rice in the dry season last year. So many other areas, Katsina State has reported an improvement of almost 70 percent in security that has opened up farmland for our farmers.

“So, it’s not as if we are to support every smallholder farmer. No country can do that. But what we are saying is we are also exposing our smallholder farmers to the issue of having access to funding, to credit.”

On the positive side, Kyari said the, “country experienced positive harvest in the 2024 farming season that has far exceeded what we had in the previous years”

He explained that these efforts are complemented by public financing mechanisms, development partners, and private banks, collectively working to strengthen agricultural programs across the country.

He cited successful partnerships with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a United Nations organisation based in Rome.

In 2024, the positive outcomes of IFAD-funded projects—such as the Livelihood Improvement of Family Enterprise for the Niger Delta—led to an additional grant of $32m, along with an extension of the project’s timeline, he revealed.

The Value Chain Development Nigeria programme also secured a two-year extension; occurrences, Kyari argued, further illustrate the faith development partners have in the administration’s ongoing agricultural reforms.