Nigeria's farm mechanisation training produces tractor operators

The graduation of 250 Nigerians marked the first cohort of the National Agricultural Mechanisation Service Providers Training Programme organised by the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) in collaboration with Agcoms International Trading Limited, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

The partnership reflects an administrative structure where FMARD will provide policy oversight; NADF serves as the implementing authority; Agcoms brings private-sector equipment, technical and training expertise; and ITF provides training and assessment support. The original programme design calls for two operators per tractor, helping to extend operating hours while ensuring that equipment is handled and maintained properly. 

This comes as part of the Federal Government’s wider mechanisation programme, with this phase involving 2,000 John Deere 5E Series tractors and associated implements to be supplied by Agcoms. The larger programme targets 4,000 tractor operators and mechanics. 

The programme was born out of the necessity to modernise Nigeria's agriculture, questioning the operation, maintenance and use maximisation of existing tractors over making available new ones. This demanded a shift of focus towards investing in human capacity to boost farm productivity and lower production costs. 

The programme falls in line with the agricultural policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which considers agricultural mechanisation central to Nigeria’s food-security challenge. It has in mind the best interests of smallholder farmers, working to improve access to modern machinery, reducing dependency on manual labour and increase yields.