Editorial- The Sidelining of NCAM: A Crisis for Nigeria's Agriculture

Nigeria, a nation endowed with vast agricultural potential, continues to struggle with food insecurity and stagnating agricultural productivity just as feeding 200 million population annually is more becoming a great challenge.While the causes of these issues are multifacets, one of the most significant but yet overlooked factors is the neglect of the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), which has left the country overly reliance on importing expensive tractors and farming machineries for food productivity. 

Failure to fully leverage NCAM's capability is not only stunting the growth of Nigeria’s agricultural sector, but also exacerbating food insecurity, reducing the efficiency of smallholder farmers with high reliance on costly foreign imported machineries.

NCAM established in the early 80s has the clear mandate to reduce the heavy reliance on manual labor and to develop indigenous simple agricultural technologies suited to Nigeria’s unique farming environment. Its mandate includes the research and development of local agricultural machineries, training of farmers on mechanized farming techniques, and the promotion of mechanization as a tool for enhancing agricultural productivity across the country.

However, over the years, this strategic mechanization centre has been used to capacity to enhance food productivity for sustainability through exhaustive use of its mandate.

The government’s focus on importing tractors and other machinery from abroad has not only created an illusion of progress, but not also addressing the underlying structural problems within Nigeria's agricultural sector. It is noted that imported machineries, though seemingly advanced, often failed to suite the specific needs of Nigerian farmers with high financial implications.

Moreover, the continual dependence on imports exacerbates Nigeria’s trade deficit and weakens the country’s economic resilience as spending valuable foreign exchange on machineries that could be produced locally is a sheer waste of resources Nigeria cannot afford for now.

Had NCAM been adequately supported and invested in over the years, it could have played a central role in solving many of these issues. NCAM’s work in developing locally appropriate agricultural technologies ranging from simple farming tools to larger mechanization equipment has the potential to transform Nigerian agriculture as some of the centres prototypes are evident of its capacity.

In our view, the time has come to look inward in the search for our technologies drive and food security as we cannot continue importing and still expect any perfection on the part of NCAM towards same.

For Nigeria to unlock its full agricultural potential in agric mechanization, she must take an immediate step to revitalize and properly empower NCAM. This should include increased funding, a clear mandate for innovation without any merger, and active collaboration with the private sector for prototype multiplication with constant farmers' training.

While large-scale commercial farming is important, the bulk of Nigeria’s food production is still driven by smallholder farmers. NCAM should prioritize the development of affordable, small-scale machinery that can be easily accessed by these farmers, empowering them to improve productivity and reduce reliance on manual labor.