Bank of Agric Targets Mechanised Farming Partnership with Reps across 360 Constituencies

The Bank of Agriculture (BoA) has proposed a nationwide partnership with members of the House of Representatives to support mechanised farming across the 360 federal constituencies in Nigeria.

The proposal was presented by the bank’s managing director, Ayo Sotinriade, during plenary in Abuja on Tuesday.

Sotinriade said the initiative is aimed at improving agricultural output, creating jobs, reducing hunger and helping to address insecurity in the country.

He said the plan would shift farming from subsistence production to large-scale mechanised agriculture, with each constituency expected to host a farming hub.

According to him, lawmakers who join the scheme would contribute 60 per cent of the cost of a tractor for deployment in their constituencies, while the bank would support the project with additional services.

“After purchasing the tractor, members will provide fenced land, and we will create a farming hub and a tractor booking service,” he said.

He added that the programme would also provide access to farm inputs, irrigation services, commodity aggregation, banking services for farmers and extension support, with a target yield of more than two tonnes per hectare.

Sotinriade said a single tractor could cover as much as 600 hectares annually, adding that the initiative could significantly boost productivity and rural incomes if properly implemented.

The proposal comes amid renewed government efforts to strengthen agricultural financing and improve food production. The federal government recently approved a N250 billion facility for the BoA to provide single-digit interest loans to smallholder farmers.

The initiative also aligns with broader reforms in agricultural insurance and financing through agencies such as the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS).

According to the BoA, NAIC has provided risk cover for more than 199,000 farmers, with insured assets valued at N700 billion over the past two years.

Sotinriade said the mechanisation plan could also support poverty reduction and social inclusion, particularly in rural communities and internally displaced persons’ camps in states such as Borno and Benue.

“We are thinking of this initiative as an enhancer, a catalyst to solving poverty and taking people off the social register,” he said.
The BoA has in recent months intensified efforts to expand support for Nigeria’s agricultural value chain through funding partnerships.

The bank recently secured a $1 billion intervention fund in collaboration with Afreximbank to support smallholder farmers and improve market access.

The fund is expected to complement the federal government’s National Food Security Fund and advance efforts toward food security and agricultural export growth.