The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State Chapter, on Tuesday estimated that about 70 per cent of Nigerian farmers were still engaged in subsistence operations while about 30 per cent used mechanised tools for their farming activities.
A news report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the state’s Deputy Chairman of the association, Mr. Shakin Agbayewa, as giving these figures and linked the low level of mechanization largely to poor access to land, finance and modern farm equipment.
He explained: “Most farmers in Nigeria today are still subsistence farmers. We are not yet operating fully on a commercial basis.
“If you are talking about the percentage of farmers using mechanised tools, it is still very low. Only about 30 per cent can be said to have access to mechanization”, Agbayewa added.
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The AFAN leaders lamented that due to the unpleasant situation many smallholder farmers had been cultivating limited land areas and could not afford tractors, planters, harvesters and other modern equipment and methods of farming.
While noting that the cost of hiring tractors and paying operators has become a big challenge for many rural farmers, Agbayewa maintained that mechanised farming remained the best option for farmers in view of its potential for improved productivity and higher returns on investment over time.
According to him, mechanisation may be expensive in the short term, but in the long term, it is highly profitable for farmer to adopt it for farming activities
Agbayewa further pointed out that farmers who embraced mechanisation were able to cultivate larger areas, save time, reduce post-harvest losses as well as recorded better yields because land preparation and planting were more efficiently carried out by them
To boost agricultural productivity at national and subnational levels, the AFAN leader urged the federal and state governments to establish tractor hiring centres, farm service clusters, affordable equipment leasing schemes and low-interest financing for farmers.
In addition, he strongly called for local manufacturing of farming equipment and improved access to spare parts by farmers in order to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported food items and guarantee food security for millions of Nigerians.
