Finally, the Federal Government has commenced the deployment of 2,000 tractors received from Belarus in 2025 to Nigerian farmers.
The move comes eight months after the official launch, following a delay that sparked concerns among lawmakers and stakeholders who feared the 2026 planting season would be lost to bureaucracy.
This is as the government has an ambitious target to provide 10,000 tractors before the end of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
On June 23, 2025, President Tinubu commissioned 2,000 tractors under the Renewed Hope Agricultural Mechanisation Programme.
At the time, the President declared the initiative a “landmark moment” for food security, promising an immediate modernisation of the sector to empower rural farmers.
However, eight months of silence followed the fanfare. It is only now that the distribution has actually begun. This delay has raised questions about Nigeria’s ability to bridge its massive mechanisation gap.
Currently, the country’s mechanisation rate sits at a meagre 0.27 horsepower, hp per hectare, ha, which is a far cry from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, recommendation of 1.5 hp/ha for sustainable productivity.
The roadmap for this transformation began in 2023 with the Greener Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme. The plan was bold, which included the provision of 2,000 tractors annually for five years; 1,000 service centers, and the establishment of local assembly plants. Yet, three years into the administration’s timeline, only the initial 2,000 units have materialised.
Under the current arrangement, the government is handing these implements over to private Mechanised Service Providers, MSPs.
While this aims to ensure professional management, critics argue that the original goal of 10,000 tractors and 9,000-plus implements may now be out of reach.
As the 2026 rainy season approaches, the pressure is on the MSPs to prove that the much-acclaimed agricultural revolution is real and not just a series of missed deadlines.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
