The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has inaugurated the National Agricultural Mechanisation Service Providers Training Programme for 4,000 trainees across the six geopolitical zones to strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation drive.
The 10-day programme is being implemented in partnership with AGCOMS, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The Executive Secretary of NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, represented by the General Manager of Technical Services, Ernest Ihedigbo, said the initiative would build a pool of certified tractor operators and mechanics to support the Federal Government’s agricultural transformation agenda.
He said the first cohort of 250 trainees represents a strategic investment in the skilled workforce needed to modernise Nigeria’s agricultural sector and improve food security.
According to Ibrahim, Nigeria’s agricultural productivity remains constrained by low mechanisation, inadequate technical capacity and limited access to modern farming technologies, noting that the country’s tractor density is about 0.3 horsepower per hectare compared to India’s 2.6 horsepower per hectare.
He added that participants were drawn from the Tractor Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria, the Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria, Women in Mechanised Agriculture and the Agricultural Development Projects, with deliberate inclusion of women and youths.
Also speaking, the Head of Mechanisation at NADF, Samuel Aende, said the training forms part of the fund’s partnership with John Deere for the supply of 2,000 tractors.
The Director of the Federal Department of Agricultural Mechanisation, Maruf Olalekan, said the Federal Government was implementing one of Africa’s largest mechanisation programmes through the procurement of 2,000 tractors, over 9,000 implements and spare parts under the Nigeria-Belarus partnership, alongside the Green Imperative Project with Brazil.
The Training Manager of the Model Skills Training Centre, ITF, Fatima Baidu, said participants would receive practical training in tractor operations, equipment maintenance and safety procedures to become certified professionals capable of boosting agricultural productivity.
