By Gloria Ikibah
A new push to modernise agriculture and tackle poverty is taking shape in the House of Representatives, with lawmakers set to fund a significant share of a tractor scheme aimed at expanding mechanised farming across Nigeria.
Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture, Ayo Sotinrin, unveiled the constituency-based initiative during a presentation to the House, outlining a model that places legislators at the centre of efforts to improve access to farm equipment in rural areas. 
Under the arrangement, members of the House will cover roughly 60 per cent of the cost of each tractor, which will then be deployed within their constituencies as communal assets rather than private property. The goal is to make mechanisation more widely available to farming communities that currently rely heavily on manual labour.
The scheme is part of a broader strategy by the Federal Government and the Bank of Agriculture to scale up food production, reduce poverty levels and address insecurity, particularly in agrarian regions. It is expected to support cultivation across up to 1.2 million hectares of farmland.
Sotinrin explained that the model is designed to avoid the concentration of tractors in the hands of a few individuals. Instead, it promotes a service-based approach, where operators use the machinery to cover large areas of farmland and serve multiple farmers within a community.
With a large proportion of Nigeria’s rural population engaged in agriculture, the initiative is seen as a practical step towards improving productivity, strengthening livelihoods and easing some of the economic pressures facing farming households.
Hesaid: “The idea is simple. A tractor in the hands of a service provider can mechanise up to 600 hectares annually. With 2,000 tractors, we can reach about 1.2 million hectares. That is how to impact millions of farmers, not just a few”.
Sotinrin said BOA will partner with lawmakers to establish farming hubs in constituencies. These hubs will integrate mechanisation services, input supply, irrigation, aggregation of produce, and access to banking services.
Briefing the newsmen after his presentation, the MD of BOA noted that the bank has digitised its processes, enabling farmers even those without Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) or National Identification Numbers (NIN)—to be onboarded, profiled and gradually integrated into the financial system.
He explained that the bank has moved from direct microcredit to smallholder farmers, opting instead to work through aggregators who provide inputs, technical support and extension services.
“We don’t give cash loans to small farmers anymore. Aggregators help manage the entire farming cycle—from inputs to harvest ensuring better yields and accountability,” he added.
Under the new structure, farmers are expected to increase productivity from an average of one to two tonnes per hectare to higher outputs, supported by improved inputs and irrigation that could enable multiple farming cycles annually.
Sotinrin argued that improved earnings from farming will help lift rural populations out of multidimensional poverty and reduce insecurity.
“If farmers can earn N3m to N4m per cycle, they will stay on their farms and not engage in criminal activities. It’s a natural stabiliser,” he stated.
He also revealed that the programme would be extended to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), with tailored support to help them return to productive livelihoods.
On financing, Sotinrin clarified that the tractors are not grants, stressing that beneficiaries must pay for them, while repayments would be recycled to procure more equipment.
He noted that the tractors are priced between N43m and N50m significantly lower than market rates and that lawmakers are expected to pay outright, albeit at subsidised rates.
To further ensure sustainability, he said plans are underway to establish a tractor assembly plant in the Federal Capital Territory in partnership with Belarusian firms, alongside seven mechanisation service centres across the country for maintenance and training.
Sotinrin described the initiative as “the largest mechanisation programme in Africa,” adding that it is structured to be self-sustaining through a continuous cycle of investment and reinvestment.
According to him, “this is not about distributing tractors; it’s about building an ecosystem that transforms agriculture at scale.”
