The Federal Government has launched the National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy and the National Agricultural Mechanisation Investment Strategy, announcing plans to establish a mega tractor assembly plant capable of producing between 2,000 and 4,000 units annually.
Speaking at the High-Level National Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Mechanisation in Abuja on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, stated that the twin policy instruments are designed to transition Nigeria from a mechanisation deficit to an agricultural powerhouse.
Minister Kyari explained that the policy framework moves beyond traditional equipment purchasing toward building a comprehensive “Mechanisation-as-a-Service” economy.
Under the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme, the Federal Government has initiated the deployment of 2,000 tractors alongside over 9,000 implements and spare parts, a deployment described as Africa’s largest single agricultural mechanisation initiative.
“Our ambition must be larger than equipment ownership. We must build a Mechanisation-as-a-Service economy in which technology reaches the farmer when and where it is needed, at a cost that is commercially viable and sustainably financed,” Kyari stated, emphasising that localised assembly will cut machinery imports and generate technical jobs for Nigerian youths.
Supporting the federal initiative, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum officially unveiled the twin policy documents, commending President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for driving commercial food sovereignty.
Minister of State for Agriculture Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi and Permanent Secretary Marcus Ogunbiyi noted that the framework aligns equipment deployment with operator training, spare parts supply chains, digital fleet management, and private financing.
Chief Executive Officer of TracTrac MSL, Godson Ohuruogu, whose firm has reached over 500,000 smallholders through the Mastercard Foundation’s ISSAM Project, affirmed that private sector service delivery models demonstrate how public policy can successfully scale last-mile mechanisation to smallholders.
Source: Punch News
Image Credit: FMINO
