The Federal Government has commenced the recruitment of 819 young Nigerians to be trained as tractor operators and mechanics to boost mechanised farming and food security in the country.
This was disclosed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Temitope Fashedemi, at a two-day workshop to draft the National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy in Abuja.
In attendance were policymakers, agricultural experts, industry leaders, farmers’ associations and development partners.
Fashedemi, who was represented by the ministry’s Director of Planning and Policy Coordination, Ibrahim Tanimu, lamented that despite procuring more than 30,000 agricultural machinery over the years, Nigeria is presently left with less than 5,000 functional tractors.
He also praised President Bola Tinubu for engaging agricultural equipment manufacturers such as John Deere, Belarus tractors and the Green Imperative Programme to supply an additional 32,500 tractors in the next five years.
The permanent secretary added that the move had prompted the ministry to consider training 819 tractor operators and mechanics at their centres in Akure and Misau, respectively.
