Sixty-nine days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu flagged off the distribution of 2,000 tractors and thousands of other farm implements under his administration’s mechanisation programme, not a single unit has reached Nigerian farmers.
The launch, held on June 24, 2025, at the National Agriculture Seed Council in Sheda, Kwali Area Council of Abuja, was touted as a bold step to tackle food insecurity, boost mechanised farming, and deliver on the Renewed Hope Agenda. Alongside the tractors, the initiative also included 10 combine harvesters, 12 mobile workshops, 9,000 implements, and 9,000 spare-part kits. Government projections at the time promised cultivation of over 550,000 hectares of farmland, two million metric tons of staple food, 16,000 jobs, and benefits for about 550,000 farming households.
Yet, nearly ten weeks later, the tractors and implements remain idle at the council’s premises. Officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security disclosed that the delay is due to the absence of a presidential directive authorising distribution, noting that a memo is currently on the President’s desk awaiting approval.
The situation has sparked outrage among farmer groups who say valuable time is being lost, especially with the wet season already running out.
The President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Arch. Kabiru Ibrahim, described the delay as surprising and urged the government to adopt an equitable, cluster-based leasing or hiring system once distribution begins.
Dr. Ogbo Douglas, National President of the All Farmers Progressive Association, called the delay “very unfortunate,” saying it contradicts the government’s declared emergency on food security.
The Community Allied Farmers Association President, Austin Maduka, lamented that the sluggish implementation is worsening food inflation and must be corrected immediately.
From Kano, farmer Abdulrashid Na’ibi said the tractors remain a mirage as the cropping season draws to a close, while in Kaduna, another farmer, Mathew, pleaded with the President to ensure that the tractors are released at subsidised rates and that bureaucratic bottlenecks be dismantled.
This controversy comes against the backdrop of earlier probes by the House of Representatives into previous agreements with foreign firms such as AFTRADE DMCC and John Deere, following allegations of delayed tractor deliveries despite billions of naira in commitments.
For many farmers, the delay has once again highlighted Nigeria’s recurring challenge: lofty agricultural policies that rarely translate into timely, practical results on the ground. With hunger and inflation biting harder across the country, stakeholders warn that the continued stagnation of the mechanisation drive risks undermining President Tinubu’s promise of an agricultural renaissance.
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