By Bello Hamza, Abuja
The Ekiti State Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security, and Hello Tractor, the leading technology-enabled digital marketplace for tractor contracting in Africa, have agreed on a strategic partnership to boost mechanized farming in Ekiti State ahead of the 2024 planting season.
Speaking on the development in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Dr. Nneka Enwonwu, the Country Managing Director of Hello Tractor in Nigeria, emphasized that such strategic partnerships are crucial as more states across Nigeria move to develop programs around food security, youth empowerment, and job creation.
“At Hello Tractor, we are excited about this partnership because it will empower smallholder farmers and lead to more efficiency in farming through mechanization.
“From the local government extension agents to the booking agents, all the way to the technicians, moving towards mechanization in line with the Ekiti State Agricultural Development Plan aligns perfectly with our company’s commitment to partner with states that are working on innovative and sustainable agricultural solutions for their people,” the Country Managing Director said.
While the global standard for mechanized farming is 200 tractors per 100 square kilometers of arable land, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have a meager 27 tractors for the same area — with Nigeria’s average being far less. For the last ten years, Hello Tractor has been working to connect more smallholder farmers with mechanized services to help them increase their productivity.
The company has digitized and serviced over 1.1 million farmers and has over 3.3 million acres under management.
