The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said Wednesday that the ministry will receive 500 tractors assembled by the John Deere Group to improve mechanized farming, increase production, and achieve food and nutrition security.
This is part of the Federal Government’s target to distribute 2,000 subsidised tractors to farmers annually within five years.
The initiative aims at catalyzing farming activities and fortifying the nation’s food and nutrition security in line with the president’s emergency declaration on food security.
Kyari, in a statement by the ministry’s Acting Director of Information, Ezeaja Ikemefuna, said “John Deere would deliver 500 tractors by the end of May and the rest in September 2024”.
He assured that the group will achieve the set target of 2,000 tractors yearly for the next five years.
The minister reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to improve food and nutrition security through mechanization, adding that the tractors would be accessible, available, and affordable for small, large-scale, and cooperative farmers across the country.
Also speaking on the release of fertilizer by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the ministry, Kyari said 2.15 million bags of assorted fertilizer ranging from NPK, UREA and SSP, worth over N100bn, would be distributed to Nigerian farmers to enhance agricultural production.
He noted that the ministry had received the handing-over letter and would commence the distribution of the various assorted fertilizers as soon as locations where they are warehoused are made available to the ministry.
“As soon as we get the locations which I am sure are spread across the country, we will swing into action,’’ Kyari said.