The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) on Tuesday inaugurated the National Agricultural Mechanisation Service Providers Training Programme for 4,000 trainees across the six geopolitical zones.

The 10-day programme is aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation drive.

The executive secretary of NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the training was being implemented in partnership with John Deere representative AGCOMS, the Industrial Training Fund and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

Mr Ibrahim said the programme was designed to build a pool of certified tractor operators and mechanics to support the Federal Government’s agricultural transformation agenda.

He said the first cohort comprised 250 trainees and represented a strategic investment in the human capital needed to modernise Nigeria’s agricultural sector. According to him, the programme aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which seeks to reposition agriculture as a driver of food security, employment, economic diversification and inclusive growth.

Mr Ibrahim said that despite Nigeria’s vast agricultural potential, productivity remained constrained by low levels of mechanisation, inadequate technical capacity and limited access to modern farming technologies.

“Nigeria’s tractor density stands at about 0.3 horsepower per hectare, compared with India’s 2.6 horsepower per hectare. The gap is both a challenge and an opportunity,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim said the training would address the shortage of skilled mechanisation service providers while complementing the Federal Government’s efforts to expand access to tractors and other agricultural machinery.

He said the success and sustainability of mechanisation depended on the quality of personnel responsible for operating, maintaining, managing and commercialising agricultural equipment.

He added that participants were drawn from the Tractor Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria,  Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria, Women in Mechanised Agriculture, and the Agricultural Development Projects.

The head of mechanisation at NADF, Samuel Aende, said the programme formed part of the fund’s partnership with John Deere to supply 2,000 tractors. He described the training as a critical investment in both the trainees and Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

The director of the Federal Department of Agricultural Mechanisation, Maruf Olalekan, commended NADF for investing in both machinery and human capacity.

Mr Olalekan said sustainable agricultural transformation required skilled operators and mechanics. He said the federal government was implementing one of Africa’s most ambitious mechanisation programmes through the procurement of 2,000 tractors, more than 9,000 implements and spare parts under the Nigeria-Belarus partnership, alongside the Green Imperative Project with Brazil.

“I urge development partners and private investors to take advantage of opportunities in mechanisation service centres, equipment leasing, maintenance hubs, precision agriculture and local manufacturing. Mechanisation is essential to achieving Nigeria’s food sovereignty goals,” he said.

(NAN)