National Chairman, Tractor Owners & Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN), Danladi Garba has said there were not up to 200,000 agriculture tractors in Nigeria.
He explained that the low level of agricultural mechanisation on farms across the country has continued to limit the capacity of farmers to expand their cultivation areas, perform timely farming operations, and achieve economies of scale in food production.
He reiterated that for the country to attain a high level of food sufficiency and reduce dependency on food imports, it had to improve the level of agricultural mechanisation.
Nigeria is one of the lowest players in the global agriculture tractors market estimated at $60 billion last year. The market is to reach $98 billion by 2030, according to Astute Analytica.
Available statistics show that Nigeria is one of the least mechanised farming countries in the world with the country’s tractor density put at 0.27 hp/ hectare which is far below the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s 1.5hp/hectare recommended tractor density.
Nigeria ranks 132nd out of the 188 countries worldwide measured by FAO / United Nations in terms of the number of tractors in the country.
Nigeria has fewer tractors than minnow countries like Serbia & Montenegro, with 400,000, Pakistan with 320,000, or Uzbekistan with 170,000 tractors.
According to analysts, the market was not growing because of factors such as inadequate government financial support, and poor adoption of mechanised farming by farmers.
He noted that the market would expand following multiple uses of tractors in farming operations like planting, sowing, and others.
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With smaller acreage, he explained that most marginal farmers employ compact, space-efficient, and terrain-appropriate tractors for agricultural purposes.
Managing Director, Honda Manufacturing Nigeria, Hirohide Ichikawa said the unaffordability of high-powered tractors and farm tools by small and medium-sized farmers has prompted the organisations to invest more in R&D and offer products at affordable prices. According to experts, the level of Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation is among the lowest globally.
The National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy 2022-2027, published by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development posited that Nigeria is one of the lowest in the World.
The document read in part, “inadequate technological inputs, particularly in production and farm-level processing equipment such as tractors, power tillers, harvesters, threshers, crushers, choppers, hay balers and milkers have reduced the amount of land area under cultivation and contributed to low crop and livestock productivity, and high post-harvest losses in the country.”
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abukabar said the ministry was working to ensure tractors and relevant mechanisation tools were available to farmers, especially small-holder farmers, through the Green Imperative Programme.
FMARD indicated that Nigeria’s mechanisation is at 0.027 hp/hectare which is far from the FAO’s recommendation of 1.5 hp/hectare.”
The Federal Government in April last year also said that it would drive Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation programme with about 60,000 tractors.