Mechanised agriculture: Chinese firm to supply 8 states with tractors

China-Africa Machinery Corporation (CAMACO) has agreed to supply of tractors to eight states in the northern part of the country in fulfillment of an agreement by the Chinese government with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to fund the mechanisation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector to the tune of $4.5 billion.
 
President Muhammadu Buhari and his Chinese counterpart
Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, inaugurated the implementation committees on the Agricultural Mechanization System (AMS) in Abuja recently. Speaking at the ceremony, Ogbeh lamented the situation whereby the country has less than 30,000 tractors when the minimum requirement as at today should be a million tractors at the minimum.

“This partnership with CAMACO is an attempt to catch up with our shortfalls in tractors and increase our mechanization to make it easier for agriculture to take place. Increased mechanization is even more important now that we are trying to encourage the youth to embrace agriculture.

“Some parts of the north are very dusty, so your air filters must be designed to fit appropriately. You must also build these tractors bearing in mind that we need them to last 15 to 20 years at the very least. We don’t have money to repeat purchases of machinery every two years. We need solid machinery, very well-designed machines to cope with the climatic conditions and the nature of our soil. We are also intending to keep after sales services in top gear.”

Participating states are Zamfara, Adamawa, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Katsina, Niger, Taraba and Sokoto.

CAMACO is a venture funded by the China African Development Fund (CADFund) as a strategic partnership built and developed between China and Africa, with the purpose of encouraging and supporting Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa.


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