Agric engineers caution NASENI on establishment of mechanization institutes

The Vice Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Agricultural Engineers (NIAE) Prof. Joshua Olarenwaju Olaoye has cautioned against any establishment of agricultural machinery and equipment development Institutes that would not be tailored through the rightful agricultural mechanization centre in Nigeria.

 Prof. Olaoye said this during a telephone chat with Food Farm News today on the proposed plan of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to establish six institutes in each geo political zones of the federation on agricultural machinery and equipment development.

Olaoye queried why such institutes should be established without National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) who happened to have the mandate to decentralise, saying the position of his professional body is that Nigeria should be allowed to follow other comity of nations like India and China where their Agriculture mechanization centres were separately structured like NCAM to ensure technologies transfer to end users.

He stressed further on the duplication of functions by this establishment when NCAM by its National Assembly act of 1990 has been empowered to develop and promote agricultural mechanization technologies towards the transformation of Nigerian agriculture, wondering who would coordinate the affairs of those institutes to be established by NASENI even as there is no policy on agricultural mechanization presently in Nigeria.    

                        

The NIAE Vice chairman pointed that it was as result of replica centre like NCAM in China and India that all those machineries and heavy equipments we are seeing are being made possible in those countries, adding that a visit to the NCAM would convince one the achievements it has recorded to attract more funding support rather than duplication of function elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a letter attributed to have been signed by the Chief of Staff to the president, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari has stated that one of the prayers of the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna had solicited fund for the establishment of zonal agricultural machinery and equipment development institutes in each region of the nation which was said to have been approved by President Mohammudu Buhari.