FG to Receive 500 Tractors to Improve Mechanised Farming – Minister
The Federal Government has revealed it will receive 500 tractors assembled by the John Deere Group to improve mechanised farming. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, who made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja said the gesture would also increase food production and help the country achieve food and nutrition security.
According to Kyari, additional tractors would be delivered in September, and the 500 tractors would be delivered by John Deere by the end of May. He guaranteed that the organization would meet the five-year target of 2,000 tractors annually as stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Ministry.
The minister explained that to increase agricultural yields, there was a need for tractors, saying that this was very important for growth in the agricultural sector. He reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to improve food and nutrition security through mechanisation.
Kyari said that the tractors would be accessible, available, and affordable for small, large-scale, and cooperative farmers across the country. Additionally, he disclosed that the Nigerian Rice Millers Association had provided the federal government with 58,500 tons of milled rice in order to stabilize the market.
” What we did not want to do, was to get to the market and purchase food stuff. We have urged the World Food Programme (WFP), an organization under the United Nations, to refrain from making large market purchases in order to prevent exacerbating the current inflation of food prices,” he stated.
In keeping with President Bola Tinubu’s emergency declaration on food security, the initiative sought to strengthen the nation’s food and nutrition security while also igniting farming activities.
Regarding the fertilizer that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently released to the ministry, the Minister said that the goal of the release of 2.15 million bags of various fertilizer, including NPK, UREA, and SSP, valued at over N100 billion, to Nigerian farmers was to improve agricultural productivity.
Kyari said that the apex bank’s contribution would increase food production capabilities as well as encourage price stabilization in the agricultural sector. He said that the ministry had received the handing-over letter and would commence the distribution of the various assorted fertilizers as soon as locations where they are warehoused is made available to the ministry
Kyari assured that the donation would be judiciously utilized and delivered to the intended farmers. ”As soon as we get the locations which I am sure is spread across the country, we will swing into action,” the minister said. Oil Hits $86 Over Improved Demand Outlook
