The federal government has opened discussions with Tee-Pama Nigeria Limited, vendors of Chinese YTO Group Corporation, an agricultural/construction machinery company, towards enhancing the government’s initiatives on food security.
The closed-door meeting, chaired by the Director of Mechanisation, Engineer Sule Majeed, was held at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Abuja recently.
The meeting is sequel to an invitation extended to Tee-Pama Nigeria Limited by the federal government.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the meeting, the Head of Procurement and Administration, Akintunde Akinkumi, said YTO Group Corporation, through Tee-Pama Nigeria Limited was at the ministry to foster partnership with the government in the area of mechanised agriculture.
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He said YTO Group and partners are to supply 85,000 farming and construction machinery/implements, adding that the supply would be carried out within two years with backup components and spare parts to be distributed to the 774 LGAs nationwide with one or two-year warranty.
“A large number of YTO tractors samples were to be procured by the federal government for about five state governments which included Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano, Ebonyi etc. as the preliminary phase for the implementation of the Agricultural Mechanisation System (AMS),” Akintunde explained.
The machinery and equipment to be supplied will include tractors, harrows, ploughs, harvesters, rollers, bulldozers and graders, among others.
It will be recalled that Tee-Pama Nigeria Limited was recently in Niger State where the state government expressed readiness to partner with YTO agricultural machinery manufacturer to enhance the state’s effort at attaining food security.
During the meeting, Niger State Commissioner of Agriculture, Salihu Bawa Bosso, said the government is cultivating 250,000 hectares of land across the state in the first year of the present administration, stressing that in the next few years, Niger State would become the agricultural food hub in Nigeria.
“We are happy that we are here to collaborate to ensure that we redirect the minds of our people to agriculture. His Excellency, the Farmer Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, is committed to solving the critical problems bedevilling society using agriculture as a strategy to ensure that our people can feed themselves all-round the year,” Bosso said.
