By Omoyeni Ojeifo
As part of efforts to bridge the skills gap in agricultural mechanisation, the Federal Government has launched a three-year initiative targeting 5,000 women and young Nigerians for training in equipment operation, digital agriculture, maintenance and agribusiness.
The initiative, tagged AGRI360 Mechanization Training Initiative, was unveiled at the National Colloquium on the Role of Women and Youth in Advancing Agricultural Mechanization at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, on Wednesday.
The First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, represented by the wife of the Vice President, Hajiya Nana Shettima, applauded the initiative, describing it as a strategic investment in a mechanisation-as-a-service economy.
She explained that the programme would equip participants with the skills and tools needed to participate meaningfully in modern agriculture and take advantage of opportunities emerging across the sector.
“The mechanisation would increase productivity, reduce the physical burden associated with farming and make agriculture more attractive to young Nigerian ,” she said.
Tinubu pointed out that agricultural mechanisation would increase productivity, reduce the physical burden associated with farming and make agriculture more attractive to young Nigerians.
“Young Nigerians are already redefining agriculture through digital technologies, precision farming, artificial intelligence, drones and other innovative approaches,” she noted.
Emphasising the need to create greater opportunities for women in agriculture, Tinubu noted that when women acquire the skills and resources to earn incomes and grow their businesses, the benefits extend beyond them to their families and communities
Setting the tone at the colloquium, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, said the future of Nigerian agriculture must move beyond physical labour to technology, enterprise and opportunity.
“A farmer using a hoe should not be expected to compete with a farmer using modern machinery. A young Nigerian should not look at agriculture and see only physical labour. The future of Nigerian agriculture must tell a different story,” Kyari said.
He explained that mechanisation would enable farmers accomplish in hours what might otherwise take days, freeing valuable time and allowing knowledge, skill and enterprise to matter more than sheer human effort.
According to the Minister, the government’s ambition was to build a mechanisation-as-a-service economy where farmers could access the right machinery, at the right time and at an affordable cost.
“Nigeria’s mechanization challenge is therefore also an employment opportunity. Every machine placed into productive use creates a need for trained operators, technicians, maintenance and repair services, equipment managers and viable service businesses.”
The Minister emphasized that the AGRI360 would provide a bridge to that ambition by connecting skills with enterprise, technology with farmers and mechanisation with economic opportunity.
He further explained that the initiative complemented the National Agricultural Mechanization Policy and National Agricultural Mechanization Investment Strategy, launched in August 2026 to advance machinery manufacturing, assembly, servicing, innovation and investment in Nigeria.
Kyari stressed that Nigeria could not continue to organise agriculture around the expectation of the rains, stressing that irrigation and water management must advance alongside mechanisation.
“When farmers have access to both water and machinery, we can extend production beyond a single season,” he stated.
Kyari commended the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, for her efforts through the Renewed Hope Initiative, noting that empowering women and young people was not merely a social intervention but an economic strategy.
The Minister urged investors and development partners to invest in the mechanisation ecosystem, particularly in equipment assembly, leasing, maintenance, spare parts, training, technology and financing.
“As we unveil AGRI360 today, the task ahead is to turn access into ability, ability into enterprise, and enterprise into greater productivity. That is the promise of mechanization: not machines for their own sake, but a stronger agricultural economy that works for more Nigerians,” he declared.
Im his remarks, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, disclosed that the AGRI360 was designed to tackle the gender gap in agricultural mechanisation while equipping 5,000 beneficiaries over its three-year implementation period.
“The evidence in ground shows that women constitute 49 per cent of the agricultural labour force but face systematic exclusion from mechanisation, with forgone earnings of at least $2.3 billion annually due mainly to low productivity,” he noted.
Abdullahi stressed that the initiative would address the gap by equipping women and youths with skills needed to participate in the mechanisation ecosystem.
On his part, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, described AGRI360 as a national mechanisation skills, enterprise and service-delivery ecosystem rather than simply a training programme.
“This initiative would create pathways for women and youths to become machinery operators, technicians, mechanics, drone operators, precision-agriculture specialists, software developers and fabricators,” Ogunbiyi maintained.
The Managing Director of Mela-Chiyoma Pat Limited, Patricia Stan-Dioka, pointed to job creation, business development and enterprise opportunities as the real measures of AGRI360’s success, rather than the number of people trained.
“The programme is designed to help participants understand the wider agricultural mechanisation ecosystem, where every machine creates a chain of jobs and businesses in machinery coupling, maintenance, operation and service delivery,” she said.
Captain Tractors India, a partner in the initiative with 32 years of experience in mini and small tractors and a presence in 90 countries, will deploy 50 tractors to each state under AGRI360.
The company will also train and monitor farmers in modern farming practices, while youths will receive training in engineering and mechanics to operate and maintain the equipment.
The colloquium was attended by representatives of the governors of Imo, Abia and Lagos States, members of the National Assembly, the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, development partners and captains of industry.
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