FG’s ‘Missing’ 2,000 Tractors Resurface 8 Months After
The federal government has announced the commencement of the distribution of 2,000 tractors and over 9,000 agricultural implements across the country.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu launched the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme (RHAMP) in in June 2025, but since then, no tractors or farm implements were provided to any farmer, prompting media inquiry as to the whereabout of the tractors.
Even so, only 600 of the tractors are available for distribution while the rest will be distributed in two phases of 750 and 650 units.
“The tractors will be deployed through Mechanisation Service Providers under a lease-to-own model, with each tractor expected to serve about 600 hectares annually, expanding access to mechanisation for over one million farmers,” Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari said in a statement.
According to the minister, more than 100,000 applications were received for the first phase alone.
He said that the Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme includes structured financing, maintenance support, mobile service trucks and the establishment of mechanisation centres to ensure sustainability and long-term impact.
Also known as the Belarus Project, the initiative was introduced as part of efforts to reform Nigeria’s food system, with the country taking delivery of 2,000 tractors, 10 combine harvesters, 12 mobile workshops, 9,000 farming implements and 9,000 spare parts kits.
A report by Thecable earlier this month, discovered that significant number of the farming implements bought from Belarus were gathering dust in Abuja.
Following the media reports, federal lawmakers queried Sabi Abdullahi, minister of state for agriculture and food security, over the whereabouts of the tractors.
The lawmakers said the absence of the tractors on farmlands had raised concerns about the government’s implementation strategy, particularly amid rising food prices.
Addressing the joint senate and house of representatives committees on agricultural production during a session to review the ministry’s 2025 budget performance and defend its 2026 estimates, Abdullahi said the government was being cautious.
“We are deliberately taking time to ensure that what happened in the past does not repeat itself,” Abdullahi said.
