We are yet to benefit from FG’s tractor hiring service – FCT farmers

Some of the farmers who accused the government of being deceptive, said they have not seen any of the tractors working for any farmer in the territory since the programme was announced by the Agriculture Minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, at Sheda in Kwali Area Council of the FCT sometime in 2013.  “I only heard about […]

Some of the farmers who accused the government of being deceptive, said they have not seen any of the tractors working for any farmer in the territory since the programme was announced by the Agriculture Minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, at Sheda in Kwali Area Council of the FCT sometime in 2013.  
“I only heard about the tractor hiring service but have never seen any of the tractors working for any farmer in this area. I think they are deceiving us,” one of the farmers, Mr. Bawa Jisalo, from Karu village in the FCT told our reporter.
Another farmer, Alhaji Zakari Danladi, from Karshi village also in the FCT told Daily Trust that apart from one or two rickety privately owned tractors he had seen in his area, there has been no sign of any government tractors.
“When we heard the announcement, we were happy that since the tractor hiring service will be subsidised, a lot of labour cost will be saved, but the government has disappointed us,” Danladi lamented.
He said farmers in the area who farm large portions of land have continued to use manual labour, which he described as a “tedious and expensive” alternative.
Adding his voice to the lamentation of his colleagues, Mr. Samuel Audu, a farmer from Abaji Area Council of the FCT, told Daily Trust that he has not heard any farmer from the entire territory talk about using the government tractors in his/her farm.
“I wonder why the government will continue to say things that they cannot do. We are tired of empty promises. If they cannot assist us, let them leave us alone,” Audu said.   
Reacting to the development, the Acting Director of Agriculture at the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Alhaji Ovurevu Isah Ademoh, told our reporter that the FCT does not operate tractor hiring service as the tractors have been sold to individual and corporate farmers to render the service to interested farmers.
“We don’t operate tractor hiring service here in the FCT. We have sold the tractors to big individual farmers and corporate farmers who will now hire them out to farmers that need the service,” he said.
When asked if farmers can afford the cost of hiring the tractors from the private buyers who may be targeting high profit, Ademoh said the rates vary in various locations and the farmers can bargain for better prices.