Beyond Tractors: How Namadi is rewriting Jigawa’s agric story, By Tijjani Nagwamastse

For decades, the story of agricultural mechanisation in Nigeria has been one of great promises followed by disappointing outcomes. Governments announce the purchase of tractors, millions of naira are committed, machinery is unveiled with considerable fanfare, and yet the ordinary farmer often continues to cultivate his land with a hoe and cutlass.

The problem has never been simply the absence of tractors. The deeper problem has been the absence of a sustainable system for putting those tractors to work.

A tractor parked in a government compound does not cultivate a hectare. A tractor without fuel, a trained operator, spare parts and proper maintenance is little more than an expensive piece of metal. And a tractor that cannot be accessed by the farmer at the critical moment of the farming season cannot deliver the agricultural transformation for which it was purchased.

The emerging agricultural mechanisation strategy in Jigawa

Tractors procured by the Namadi administration for mechanised agric transformation in Jigawa State

This is why the emerging agricultural mechanisation strategy in Jigawa State deserves attention. Under Governor Umar Namadi, the emphasis appears to be shifting from the traditional question of “How many tractors can government buy?” to a much more important question:

“How can we build a system that ensures farmers can consistently access mechanisation when they need it?” That is a fundamentally different approach.

The establishment of mechanisation service centres across the state, investment in tractors and harvesters, deployment of agricultural extension workers, training of technical personnel, digital monitoring and efforts to bring mechanisation closer to farming communities suggest an attempt to build an agricultural ecosystem rather than simply distribute agricultural equipment.

And this distinction could determine whether the investment becomes another chapter in Nigeria’s long history of underutilised agricultural machinery—or the beginning of something genuinely transformative.

The old problem with tractor procurement

For many years, agricultural mechanisation programmes across Nigeria have followed a familiar pattern. A government purchases tractors. The machines are allocated to farmers, cooperatives or government agencies. After some time, however, questions begin to emerge about their utilisation, maintenance and accountability.

Some machines become unserviceable because of inadequate maintenance. Others are difficult to deploy because of fuel and operational costs. In some cases, machinery is simply not available to the farmers who need it during the critical planting and harvesting windows.

The result is that enormous public investments may fail to generate corresponding agricultural output.

This is why Jigawa’s approach deserves to be examined not merely from the perspective of how many machines have been acquired, but from the perspective of the institutional structure surrounding those machines.

From tractor ownership to tractor services

Thirty young Jigawa technicians sent to China for training on agric Mechanisation pose with some officials

The establishment of the Jigawa State Farm Mechanisation Service Company is potentially one of the most important components of the programme. The philosophy is straightforward: farmers do not necessarily need to own tractors in order to benefit from mechanisation.

What they need is reliable and affordable access to tractor services. This distinction is particularly important in Jigawa, where the majority of farmers are smallholders.

It would be unrealistic to expect individual smallholder farmers to purchase tractors, maintain them, employ trained operators and bear the cost of spare parts and repairs. A properly managed mechanisation service can solve this problem.

Instead of each farmer purchasing a tractor, the government or a professionally managed mechanisation company can operate a fleet of tractors and provide services to farmers for land preparation, planting, spraying and harvesting. One tractor can therefore serve many farmers during a farming season.

This is the principle behind commercial equipment-hiring systems around the world, and it has the potential to make mechanisation more accessible to smallholder farmers.

Taking mechanisation closer to the farmer

The reported establishment of 60 mechanisation service centres across Jigawa’s 30 constituencies is particularly significant. Agricultural machinery must be located close enough to farming communities to be useful.

The farmer cannot afford to wait several weeks for a tractor to arrive when the rains have already started. Timing is everything in agriculture.

A farmer who plants late may experience reduced yields. A farmer who cannot harvest on time may suffer significant losses. Mechanisation therefore has value not simply because it reduces physical labour but because it enables farmers to perform agricultural operations within the appropriate period. Bringing machinery closer to farmers can therefore have a direct impact on productivity.

Improved seeds are imperative

The tractor is only the beginning. It is important, however, not to make the mistake of thinking that agricultural transformation ends with tractor procurement. A tractor is only one component of a much larger agricultural system.

Farmers need improved seeds, fertiliser, irrigation, extension services, crop protection, storage, processing facilities, transportation and access to markets.

If a farmer has a tractor but lacks good seeds, yields may remain low. If he produces a large harvest but has nowhere to store it, post-harvest losses may undermine his income.

If he produces more food but cannot access profitable markets, increased production may not translate into improved livelihoods. Therefore, mechanisation must be integrated into a broader agricultural value chain.

The importance of agricultural extension workers

One particularly encouraging component of Jigawa’s agricultural strategy is the attention being given to extension services. Agricultural extension workers serve as the bridge between scientific agricultural knowledge and the farmer.

They can advise farmers on improved varieties, planting techniques, fertiliser application, pest and disease control, soil management and other practices capable of increasing productivity.

The reported provision of motorcycles for extension workers is therefore more than a logistical intervention.

It can potentially transform the relationship between the extension officer and the rural farmer. An extension worker who has reliable transportation can visit more farms, monitor crops more effectively and respond faster to farmers’ problems.

This is especially important when mechanisation is being introduced because farmers must understand how to integrate mechanised operations with improved agronomic practices.

Cooperatives can make mechanisation more efficient

There is another area where Jigawa can strengthen this programme: farmer cooperatives and farm clustering.

Mechanisation is generally more efficient when large areas of land are cultivated together rather than when tractors constantly move between numerous small, fragmented plots.

Government should therefore encourage farmers to form strong and transparent cooperative societies. Farmers do not necessarily have to surrender ownership of their individual farms.

Instead, they can coordinate their production schedules and organise their farms into contiguous clusters that allow machinery to operate more efficiently.

Imagine a tractor entering a 200-hectare farming cluster and systematically preparing the land rather than travelling from one isolated one-hectare farm to another. The savings in fuel, time and operating costs could be substantial.

Cooperatives could also help farmers negotiate better prices for inputs and collectively market their produce.

Technology and accountability

Another important issue is accountability. Public agricultural machinery must be traceable. Every tractor should ideally have a digital identity and GPS tracking system capable of recording its location, operating hours and utilisation.

Fortunately, Jigawa’s emerging mechanisation system is already incorporating digital monitoring and fleet-management technology. This is the direction agricultural governance should take.

Technology can make it easier to determine where government-owned machinery is operating, how frequently it is being used and whether it is reaching the intended beneficiaries. It can also provide valuable data for planning.

If records show that one mechanisation centre consistently serves more farmers than another, government can determine whether additional equipment or personnel should be deployed there. Data should therefore become an integral part of agricultural planning.

Maintenance is as important as procurement

One of the greatest threats to any agricultural mechanisation programme is poor maintenance. A tractor that costs millions of naira can become useless if a relatively inexpensive component fails and there is no replacement available.

This is why the investment in technical manpower is so important. Training Nigerian technicians to service and repair agricultural machinery can reduce downtime, create employment and gradually build local expertise.

Training and technical manpower

The reported training of young agricultural technicians in China is therefore a potentially valuable component of the programme. Over time, Jigawa should aim to develop a strong local ecosystem of tractor mechanics, agricultural engineers, welders, spare-parts suppliers and machinery operators.

This could create an entirely new category of rural employment. Mechanisation can attract young people into agriculture. Nigeria’s agricultural sector faces another major challenge: attracting young people.

Many young Nigerians associate farming with backbreaking physical labour and low financial returns. Mechanisation can change this perception.

The farmer of the future does not necessarily have to spend his entire day wielding a hoe. He can operate a tractor, manage irrigation systems, use digital platforms, monitor farm productivity and participate in modern agricultural value chains.

Agriculture can become a technologically driven profession. This is particularly important in Jigawa, where the future of agriculture will depend heavily on the ability to bring younger generations into productive farming.

Mechanisation and irrigation must work together

Another important frontier is irrigation. Jigawa’s agricultural potential cannot be fully realised if farming remains overwhelmingly dependent on rainfall.

Mechanisation allows farmers to prepare land quickly, but irrigation gives them greater control over when and how crops are produced.

The state’s investments in irrigation and solar-powered irrigation equipment therefore complement its mechanisation programme. The combination of mechanisation and irrigation can potentially support more intensive and, in suitable locations, multiple-season production.

This is particularly important for crops such as rice, wheat, vegetables and other irrigated commodities.

The bigger opportunity: an agricultural value chain

Ultimately, Jigawa should think beyond the farm gate. More agricultural production must be accompanied by greater investment in storage, processing and marketing.

Instead of exporting raw agricultural products to other states and countries, Jigawa should increasingly seek to process more of what it produces locally.

Rice should be milled. Grains should be processed. Sesame should be cleaned and processed. Livestock products should be processed. Agricultural residues can also be converted into animal feed and other useful products.

This creates additional employment and allows farmers to capture a greater proportion of the value generated by their production.

A model that deserves continuity

Governor Umar Namadi deserves recognition for moving the conversation beyond the traditional politics of tractor procurement towards the more difficult question of building a functioning agricultural mechanisation system.

The real achievement will not be the number of tractors purchased. It will be whether the institutions established around those tractors remain functional years from now.

That means ensuring that mechanisation services remain affordable, machinery is properly maintained, technicians are continuously trained, operators are adequately supervised, farmers are organised, extension services remain active and digital monitoring is maintained.

Most importantly, future administrations should preserve and improve whatever systems prove successful. Agricultural transformation cannot be achieved in a single political term. It requires continuity.

The real measure of success

At the end of the day, the success of Jigawa’s agricultural revolution should be measured in very simple terms. Can the farmer cultivate more land? Can he plant on time? Can he harvest efficiently?

Has his production cost fallen? Has his yield increased? Has his income improved? Are more young people finding productive employment in agriculture? And is Jigawa producing more food for its own population and for markets beyond the state?

These are the questions that matter. The tractor itself is only a means to an end. A tractor sitting idle is an expense. A tractor working efficiently in the field is an investment. A coordinated network of tractors, technicians, extension workers, irrigation systems, farmer cooperatives, processors and markets is an agricultural transformation strategy.

That is why Jigawa’s emerging approach deserves attention. The state’s opportunity is no longer simply to acquire agricultural machinery. It is to build an agricultural economy in which mechanisation becomes a permanent service available to ordinary farmers.

If that system is professionally managed, transparently monitored and sustained across successive administrations, its impact could extend far beyond the machines themselves.

It could help Jigawa cultivate more land, produce more food, create jobs, strengthen rural economies and make agriculture a more attractive and profitable enterprise for the next generation.

The real agricultural revolution begins when the tractor stops being a symbol of government procurement and becomes a dependable tool in the hands of the farmer.

And that is perhaps the most important lesson from Jigawa’s emerging agricultural story.