THE House of Representatives has mandated its committee on Agricultural Production and Services to investigate the non-delivery of the 2,000 tractors implements and 100 combined harvesters after one year of federal government agreements with a company, John Deere Tractors.
The House also directed the committee to inquire on the status of the tractor assembly plants contemplated in the agreements with AFTRADE DMCC for establishment of a tractor assembly plant to produce 9,022 agricultural implements and 2,000 Belarus tractors annually.
This was sequel to the adoption of a motion moved by the member representing Edu/Moro/Patigi of Kwara state, Ahmed Adam Saba at plenary on Tuesday, December 17.
Moving the motion, Saba said noted that President Bola Tinubu had on July 13, 2023, declared a state of emergency on food security, and a major component put forward to boost food production was massive agricultural mechanisation across the country.
He said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security had signed an agreement with John Deere Tractors to supply 2000 tractors implements and 100 combined harvesters annually.
The lawmaker recalled that; “the contract for a tractor assembly plant in Nigeria was agreed to cost $70,041,733.80 and N2,981,739,134.30, respectively, with actual equipment and delivery costs, the contract includes sales, after-sales services, spare parts, and training for mechanised service providers.
“The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, pursuant to the Presidential Food Security Initiative (PFSI), entered into another five year agreement with AFTRADE DMCC for establishment of a tractor assembly plant to produce 9,022 agricultural implements and 2,000 Belarus tractors annually, this Agreement was estimated to cost Nigeria about $684,190,433.00 and N138,613,486,965.0 as actual equipment cost and delivery/assembly cost, respectively.
“Both agreements were laden with benefits to accrue to Nigeria if implemented, which include increased agricultural production, technology transfer, and reduction of the foreign currency expenditure
on the purchase of ready made equipment due to the growth of local production.”
Saba expressed worry that a year after the agreements were signed by the National Agricultural Development Fund and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, no single tractor or implement has been received in
He also expressed concern that the non-delivery of these tractors and implements is a setback to the Renewed Hope Agenda in Agricultural mechanisation and this posed challenge to Nigeria’s food sufficiency ambition, as two farming seasons have been lost since the signing of the agreements.
The ICIR reports that Nigeria is currently facing food insecurity which mechanised agriculture enabled by tractors could remedy the situation with food prices currently out of reach for most Nigerians.
The ICIR also reported that the NBS has attributed constant rise in food inflation to the rate of increase in the average prices of mudfish, catfish dried, dried fish sardine, rice, yam flour, millet whole grain, corn flour, agric egg, powdered milk, fresh milk, dried beef, goat meat, and frozen chicken.
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending November 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 38.67 per cent, which was 11.58 per cent points higher compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2023(27.09 per cent),” NBS reported stated.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.