A contract for the procurement of 2,000 John Deere tractors for wet season farming has been signed between the National Agricultural Development Fund and AGCOMS International Trading.
The signing which is one of the four mechanisation projects of the Federal Government entails the national Agricultural Development Fund to champion the deployment of 10,000 John Deere tractors across Nigeria.
The Federal Executive Council in October 2024 announced the approval of 2,000 tractors, 4,000 disc ploughs, and 1,200 tractor trailers among other farm inputs under the National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme to promote food security in Nigeria.
The National Agricultural Development Fund has been mandated to implement one of the four mechanisation programmes of the Federal Government the John Deere 2,000 tractors.
After months of negotiation with John Deere it has now signed a contract for the Implementation of the project.
The contractor, which is expected to gulp about $70 million, will also include setting up of an assembling plant, training of local technicians and product support.
The deployment is commencing with a first batch of 2,000 units in the first quarter of this year and would scale up to 10,000 in the next five years.
They disclosed that the 2,000 tractors would arrive the country before the wet farming season in 2025.
Mr. Kyari assured Nigerians that the Federal Executive Council would back up the contract deal, stressing that the mechanisation effort in the agricultural sector, would attract to agribusiness investors.
