The Tractor Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria has described the process of acquiring government agricultural loans as too cumbersome.
The National Vice-President of the association, Emmanuel Kolade, made this known on Thursday during the unveiling of the new SONALIKA tractors at Niji Farms, Ilero, Oyo State.
He said the tractors were acquired with a loan accessed from the Bank of Industry in collaboration with First City Monument Bank.
Kolade said it took the association two years to procure 50 tractors for its members.
He said, “We want to enhance agricultural mechanisation. The procedure and time frame to access loan is a little bit long.
“It took us two years to achieve this. The agricultural institution which is supposed to be de-risking agricultural loans is not really coming up to sustain the sustainability of the programme.
“The prospect of this is that these 50 tractors will enhance job creation. Each tractor is taking care of about 4,000 people and multiplying that by 50 is a huge impact on our Nigerian economy.