Okwe Obi, Abuja
Propcom Mai-Karfi, has called on private individuals and corporate organisations have been told to invest in mechanised farming to take advantage of its enormous opportunities and benefits.
Deputy Team Leader of Propcom Mai-Karfi, Ogheneovo Ugbebor, who addressed newsmen at the Agricultural Mechanisation Investment Road Show explained that the use of modern technology like tractors would increase farm yield by 40 percent.
“If you use tractors for land preparation, you potentially increase your yield by 40 percent. If, also, you use it for planting, it means you will get the spacing correctly, number of seeds you need to put per point and that way, you are able to manage the plant population within the region. When it comes to harvesting, losses associated with manual harvesting will not arise.”
She suggested that smallholder farmers should be equipped with loans, modern equipment and sufficient farm lands to scale up production.
The event brought together agricultural equipment vendors like; Spring field/ Mahindra, John Deere/Tata, Tak Agro/Sonalika, Dizengoff/ Case11, Pan African/Massey Ferguson, SCOA/New Holland, and Vision Agric Fasttrack.