We partner NCAM to reduce farming drudgery, says NAMEL

• NCAM Boss insists on local adoption

The Nigeria Agricultural Mechanization& Equipment Leasing Company (NAMEL) has said all its imported equipments for farmers’  land clearing, and foreign consultants for trainings on implements maintenance  are well certified by the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM).
Representative of NAMEL, Mr. Adekanbi  Adewale said this at IAR&T, Moor plantation, Ibadan during questions and answers session.

Mr. Adekanbi said his company had imported about 10,000 tractors  for land clearing by hiring service to all farmers in cooperatives or Associations across all the 774 local governments of the federation to reduce farming drudgery and production cost, adding that his company’s activities was  in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and NCAM, the agency with mandate of certification to all the imported machines and tractors.

He stressed that all their activities pass through  the necessary processes from NCAM in terms of permit to import, and invite consultant trainers from abroad saying ‘’ all our equipments and consultants from abroad must have NCAM clearance and recommendation’’.

 Meanwhile, the Executive Director (ED), NCAM, Dr. (Engr. ) Yomi Kasali has stressed on the need for more inward utilization of our simple tools and implements towards backward integration for internal development for food sustainability with less reliance on imports, saying the act of importations of any machine and equipment must be subjected to scrutiny of local availability and adaptation to our ecologies.

He frowned on importation without permission from the centre pointing that ‘’ to increase productivity and agricultural contribution to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), the Country needs to mechanized its agriculture’’

‘’ the extension of these technologies should start from farmers by identifying their needs or problems experienced on the farms. These problem will be tackled through technology research, and the solution will be brought back to farmers by sending the technology prototypes for testing, and this will be followed by evaluation, adaptation and adoption’’ said Kasali.