Date: 2021-05-24

Federal Government may have concluded plans that would make Nigeria a ground for the assemblage of some relevant Japanese agricultural technologies.

The development, which may be feasible before the end of this year, is expected to make light and heavy agric equipment affordable and accessible to more Nigerian farmers.

Accordingly, all the relevant agric parastatals have been placed on red alert to brace up for the partnership between the two nations, as many of their campuses are being penciled down for the take off of the project.

The Executive Director, National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM) Ilorin, Dr Yomi Kasali, made these disclosures, yesterday, at the opening ceremony of an intensive two-week training for operators and repairers of tractors across the nation's 36 states' ministries of agriculture.

"We have the mandate to be in Abuja very soon, where we have been reliably informed of the proposed needs by Nigerian government to collaborate with the Japanese government to start assembling their agric machinery here in Nigeria. The cost of foreign labour is removed and substituted with local labour. This will automatically lead to a drastic drop in the price of tractors in Nigeria.

"Our personnel are ready for the new challenge. Even before now, we fabricate new mini-tractors for the use of both rich and average Nigerian farmers at affordable prices. This is in addition to other numerous machines we fabricate and manufacture here.

This new collaboration will no doubt make affordable and accessible tractors in Nigeria," Kasali said.

NCAM, the only one of its kind in the Sub-Saharan Africa may form a leading Channel to be chosen by the Federal government to collaborate with the Japanese government in this endeavour.

The proposed collaboration is christened 'Africa Field Innovation Centre for Agricultural Technologies' (AFICAT).