Early in the year, we entered a partnership with @HelloTractor to assist in mapping our farmlands and tracking the Tractorization subsidy services Schemes of the state government. Through the help of hello tractor solutions, we were able to map more than 2000ha of land, and Tractorization was done for about 80%.
We discovered along the way some cogent challenges, especially with the Mechanization Service Providers (MSPs). Many of them (MSPs) had long downtime due to mechanical faults as a result of the terrain and this made time to service other farmers to be prolonged than necessary. Crop production is time sensitive especially in a period of an unstable rain pattern. My team and I resolved that we must get some units of tractors that can handle special intervention projects and quickly resolve emergency cases for our farmers.
This will no way distort the market. This morning, we started to receive some units of tractors and implements from @JohnDeere. These tractors and equipment will be handled by the private sector to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, durability and accountability. Again, our appreciation goes to Mr. Governor, HE @biodunaoyebanji, for the support of the growth of agriculture in the State Our model hasn’t changed.
We will continue to encourage private service providers to play active roles in the mechanization services space. We will still intervene in subsidising the costs of land preparation to make it affordable to our small holder farmers.In fact, I have an investor that is bringing more than 20 units of tractors to the state by the end of next month.
As a state, we are investing massively in land clearing that will enhance seamless Tractorization business flow. We are doing this free for all our clusters. So, if you’re a Mechanization Service Provider, Ekiti State is ready to welcome you.
