The Nigerian Agricultural Mechanisation and Equipment Leasing Company (NAMEL) has signed an agreement with Mantrac Nigeria Ltd. to open up 500,000 hectares of land for agricultural purposes across the country.

The project is aimed at increasing food production by at least 2.5 million tonnes annually within a five year period.

Signing the agreement in Abuja on Thursday, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the project would help to rapidly transform the agricultural sector by scaling up mechanisation.

Ogbeh, represented by Mr Victor Mayomi, a Director in the minister’s office, said the collaboration between NAMEL and Mantrac would help to quickly deploy technological innovations for enhanced agricultural production along value chains.

“This is a positive development being one of the key initiatives we have developed to bring more land under cultivation in the country.

“I urge all stakeholders, especially the unemployed youths to take advantage of this project,’’ he said.

The Chief Executive of NAMEL, Dr Ahmed Adekunle said the project was known as the Integrated Nationwide Agricultural Land Development Scheme (INALDS).

Adekunle said the project would open up 500,000 hectares of arable land with a minimum of 13,000 hectares per state.

He said that the land would be opened up using appropriate agricultural land development technology and payment would be made over a period of one to three years.

Adekunle listed the target crops for the project to include rice, maize, wheat, sorghum, soy beans, cotton, cassava, yam, potatoes, ginger, sugar cane and cocoa.

He said that stakeholders to be directly involved in the project were development partners, financial institutions and small holder farmers in clusters who had up to one to 10 hectares of land.

The chief executive said that the implementation of the project would commence by May.

The Managing Director of Mantrac, Mr Ahmed Ragab said that the project was to assist Nigerian government to empower farmers, increase food production, create more jobs and industries.

Ragab said that the project would help to re-write the story of the country, especially in the agricultural sector.

Alhaji Kabiru Mohammed, the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) emphasised the need for agriculture to be seen as a business to add value to farmers’ efforts.

Mohammed was represented by Mr Ibrahim Alamba, the Zonal Manager, North Central of the Bank.

Alhaji Danladi Garba, the National Chairman of the Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN) said that the project would help the country achieve food security if implemented.

Mr Elesa Bitrus, the National Chairman of Tractor Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN) said that the project would be a game-changer in agricultural mechanisation.

Bitrus was represented by Mr Yusuf Yunusa, the Chairman, Federal Capital Territory Chapter of TOOAN.

NAMEL is a mechanisation ecosystem organisation which has signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with the Federal Government to deploy 10,000 units of tractors in the next five years.

Mantrac Nigeria Ltd. is the sole authorised dealer of caterpillar products in Nigeria.

(NAN)