By Ebitan Egbuson “Nigeria is facing two key gaps in agriculture today: an inability to meet domestic food requirements, and an inability to export at quality levels required for market success. The former problem is a productivity challenge driven by an input system and farming model that is largely inefficient.” - Food Security Cluster
The National Chairman of Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN), Danladi Garba, yesterday lamented that Nigeria had only 7,000 functional tractors.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo will lead farmers across the 36 states of the federation to attend the maiden edition of Nigerian Agricultural Mechanisation Exhibition (NAME) 2022 in Abeokuta
PHOTO: VON
The Executive Director of National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM) Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr. Yomi Kasali has identified poorly trained tractors’ operators as reasons for short life span of many agricultural machinery in the country.
Kasali, represented by one of the directors of NCAM, Dr. Segun Ademiluyi, at the training on Capacity Building of Tractors Operators and Maintenance of Equipment, in Ilorin, said, life span of tractors outside Nigeria is 50 years, lamenting that same tractors only last five years in Nigeria.
He spoke during the closing ceremony of over 100 tractors’ operators across Nigeria, trained by the NCAM. The event was jointly bankrolled by the institute and Tractors’ Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN).
…represents 10 percent of total loan portfolio
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has grown its loan portfolio to the agriculture sector in Nigeria to N74.10 billion, representing 10 percent of the Bank’s total loans. This figure is one of the highest in the banking industry. The feat, which was achieved in December 2020, is a signal that the deliberate strategy and sustained support of the lender to agribusiness are yielding the desired results and that the Bank’s deployment approach has been widely appreciated. It also represents another milestone and bold step by the Bank to further expand and deepen its support to agribusiness, its value-chain and the overall growth of the Nigerian economy.