By Rasheeda Hamidu
The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has launched a 10-day training programme for 4,000 tractor operators and mechanics to strengthen agricultural mechanisation and improve productivity across Nigeria.
The first cohort of 250 trainees was inaugurated at the CSS Farms Training Complex in Gora, Nasarawa State, as part of NADF’s programme to develop technical capacity for agricultural mechanisation.
NADF Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Ibrahim, described the programme as a strategic investment in the human capacity required to modernise Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Represented by the Fund’s General Manager, Technical, Ernest Ihedigbo, Ibrahim identified low mechanisation, inadequate technical capacity and limited access to modern farming technologies as constraints to agricultural productivity.
Ibrahim noted that Nigeria’s tractor density stands at about 0.3 horsepower per hectare, compared with 2.6 horsepower per hectare in India, describing the gap as both a challenge and an opportunity for agricultural transformation.
He said, “The effectiveness and sustainability of any mechanisation programme ultimately depends on the quality of the people responsible for operating, maintaining, managing and commercialising the technologies upon which it relies.”
NADF Head of Mechanisation, Samuel Aende, said the training is part of the Fund’s partnership with John Deere for the supply of 2,000 tractors, with the programme designed to provide skilled personnel to support the mechanisation initiative.
Aende urged the trainees to take the programme seriously, describing the training as an investment in both the participants and Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
The Industrial Training Fund’s Training Manager at the Model Skills Training Centre, Fatima Baidu, said modern agricultural production could no longer depend solely on manual labour and required competent personnel capable of operating new technologies.
Baidu added that participants would receive practical training in precision field operations, preventive maintenance and safety protocols to develop certified mechanisation professionals.
The Chief Operating Officer of AGCOMS International Trading Company Limited, Sadiq Halilu, encouraged the trainees to participate actively in the sessions by asking questions and sharing their experiences.
The Director of the Federal Department of Agricultural Mechanisation, Maruf Olalekan, commended NADF for combining investment in machinery with human-capacity development, stressing that sustainable mechanisation requires skilled operators and mechanics.
The trainees were selected from Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones through organisations including the Tractor Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria, Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria, Women in Mechanized Agriculture and Agricultural Development Projects.
The programme is being implemented by NADF in partnership with John Deere representatives AGCOMS, the Industrial Training Fund and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
NatureNews notes that properly trained operators and mechanics can improve the efficient use, maintenance and longevity of agricultural machinery, supporting more sustainable mechanisation.
NatureNews reports that strengthening technical capacity alongside access to agricultural machinery will be critical to Nigeria’s efforts to expand mechanised farming and build a more productive and resilient food system.
