Agriculture and Food Security Minister, Abubakar Kyari has announced that Nigeria needs at least 72,000 tractors for farmers to engage in mechanised farming and contribute massively to curbing the food crisis facing the populace.
Kyari, at a sectoral debate organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja yesterday, revealed that only about 5,000 tractors are currently in working condition at farmlands across the country.
He, however, said that the ministry has signed an agreement with a manufacturer for the supply of 2,000 tractors annually for the next five years.
The minister spoke just as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) and the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) announced the arrest of 141 trucks heading out of the country with loaded smuggled food items.
Making his presentation before the House plenary, the Agriculture minister said the rising food crisis in the country was due mainly to smuggling, flooding, COVID-19, insecurity and last year’s cash swap by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).
He, however, said that long, medium and short-term measures, including funding for wheat, rice and cassava production, have been initiated to address the challenge.
Kyari explained that while the Naira redesign/cash swap policy left smallholder farmers without cash for cultivation in 2022/2023, flooding destroyed farmlands across the country.
