Editorial- Mechanization: Integrating engineering into extension services

 Executive Director (ED) of (NCAM) Dr. (Engr) M.Y Kasali 

We wish to commend the Federal Government (FG) for the initiative to soon commence agricultural mechanization as about 140 agro processing centres across the country will be established to increase production, processing and marketing. But the question is where are these equipment's coming from, are they going to be locally made or imported?.

There is no doubt about the job creation this initiative will bring to bear along the agricultural value chains  towards commercialization with the use of modern equipment and technology that will reduce drudgery and production cost. This will go a long way to providing surplus food in the country, especially in view of border closure to checkmate smuggling.

However, we will like to point out those things that may need to be considered in carrying out this initiative with respect to peculiar stakeholders as regards equipment' procurement and repositioning of the extension service providers that will give special attention to mechanization adaptability. At this point it would be self-destructive to overlook the role engineers could play in the process, rather than just putting the job of extension services in the hands of people with general agronomics knowledge without requisite grounding in machines and simple tools operation and maintenance.

Also, if there is going to be importation of equipment at all, It will not be out of place to properly take a stock of what is available locally in all the research institutes and institutions, to ensure there is no duplication of efforts and also to reduce wastages and to ascertain whether we have capacity to produce such equipment and machines for internal development and job creation in this country before taking decision to import. Otherwise all our effort will just amount to exporting needed jobs elsewhere.  

With the rate at which some state governments are importing tractors without proper consultation that give consideration to daily operation and maintenance of these machines with many of them not even functioning well after purchase from abroad, then there is need for caution and proper integration of National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) before embarking on importation for adaptation and suitability to the environment thereby ensuring appropriate use of limited fund of the states.

At the recently concluded 2^nd edition of the Agricultural Mechanization Stakeholders Meeting held at the NCAM the Executive Director (ED) of NCAM Dr. (Engr) M.Y Kasali told the gathering of directors and  representatives of ADPs from the North East, South South and South East Zones that the state governments have penchant for imported machineries without recourse to the mandated Institute for certification as regards  temperature variation that can easily lead to quick breaking down of those  machines and equipment.

It is in the light of this that we call on stakeholders to devise a means of compelling state governments to toe the line of backward integration as it concerns mechanization, and ensure that any erring state government is penalized through one way or the other when they refuse to get certification. But we must reiterate that in our appetite for foreign equipment, caution must be taken to ensure proper appropriation of the initiative with consideration to right equipment with clearance from NCAM, while properly funded extension service delivery that is well integrated with agricultural engineers who have better knowledge of operation and maintenance know-how of these new machines and technologies be also upheld.