By Deborah Nnamdi
The Federal Government has received the initial shipment of 2,000 tractors and 9,027 additional farming tools from Belarus, as part of its initiative to boost food production in the country.
The Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, announced this in a video posted on X.com on Tuesday.
He wrote, “Nigeria has received the first batch of the 2,000 tractors and 9,027 other farming equipment to be procured in 2025 as President Tinubu’s administration seeks to accelerate food production in the country.”
According to Olusegun, the new tractors will be distributed under three key schemes designed to make mechanized farming more accessible to various segments of the farming community.
He said: “The tractors will be distributed under three key schemes: Direct purchase for individuals and organizations seeking to acquire them outright, a leasing scheme that provides affordable access to mechanization without full ownership costs, and a service provider model that establishes tractor service centers in farming communities across the country, allowing smallholder farmers to lease tractors as needed.
“There is also a sustainable plan in place to ensure maintenance is not a problem with spare parts being procured alongside the new tractors to last for the next four years, at least.”
It was reported in August 2024 that President Bola Tinubu said the government ordered mechanized farm tools from the United States of America, Belarus, and Brazil to boost food production in the country.
Earlier in January, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, also reportedly disclosed that the Federal Government has started taking delivery of the 2,000 tractors it ordered from Belarus.
He said the government is focused on crashing the price of food commodities in the country, hence the adoption of new measures to make farming seamless.
