Nigeria has unveiled a national agricultural mechanization policy and investment strategy, including plans for a mega tractor assembly plant producing 2,000 to 4,000 units annually.
The announcement, detailed in an official press release from the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation on Thursday, followed a high-level dialogue in Abuja the previous day.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Senator Abubakar Kyari said the frameworks will shift Nigeria “from agricultural potential to agricultural powerhouse; from mechanization deficit to mechanization leadership; and from food vulnerability to food sovereignty.”
Under the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanization Programme, the government is deploying 2,000 tractors and more than 9,000 implements and spare parts. Officials call it the largest single such programme in Africa.
Each tractor is expected to service about 600 hectares yearly under a lease-to-own model with mechanization service providers, targeting support for 1.2 million farmers and over 1.5 million hectares.
Nigeria’s current tractor density stands at just 0.27 per 1,000 hectares, far below the African average of 2.5 and global levels near 3.
“We must build a Mechanization-as-a-Service economy in which technology reaches the farmer when and where it is needed, at a cost that is commercially viable and sustainably financed,” Kyari stated.
The assembly plant aims to cut import dependence, create jobs and localize production. Deployment of the 2,000 tractors began in phases in February 2026 after President Bola Tinubu launched the programme in June 2025.
Permanent Secretary Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi noted: “A tractor without an operator is an idle asset. A machine without maintenance is a depreciating investment. Equipment without finance cannot reach the farmer.”
TracTrac MSL has already reached over 500,000 farmers, trained more than 6,000 youth and women, and created 3,000 jobs through similar services.
Agriculture recorded a trade surplus in the first quarter of 2026 after months of deficits, though food import bills have historically exceeded $10 billion annually. The new policy seeks private investment to turn mechanization into a sustainable services ecosystem.
