Tractor use and agricultural productivity in Nigeria: Prospects and challenges

The objectives of this study were to examine the role of tractor use in agricultural mechanisation, explore the prospects of tractor use in Nigeria and identify the challenges of tractor use in agriculture in Nigeria. The study adopted literature review; whereby secondary data have been used. The assumption of the study was that improvement in farming is directly connected with improvement in farmer’s income and livelihood. Also, that mechanised agriculture is necessary for productivity, and by implication increases profit in farm production. Tractor is one of the major farm tools that enhance mechanisation in agriculture. Therefore, incorporating the mechanisation, notably tractor is essential because it affects the farmer’s livelihoods and living conditions. The finding of the study indicated that tractor plays significant role as it is established that crop-production increased through tractor use, which increased the farmers’ income, giving room for increased production capacity thereby enabling the farmers to settle some of their outstanding debts. The study also found that tractor has prospect in Nigeria because recent development in economic diversification which emphasised agribusiness in the country portends movement towards application of intensive farm labour. However, there are some noticeable challenges associated with tractor use in Nigeria. One of these challenges is un-affordability because tractor use is very costly. Other challenges are under-utilisation, lackof knowledgeable personnel to manage the tool, lack of spare parts; and government-run tractor hire schemes are not effective because they are in a state of collapse. The study therefore concluded that tractor use is a necessary evil in Nigeria, because despite its  displacement tendency and cost, the increasing population of Nigeria calls for investing in mechanised agriculture for increasing  productivity, improving farmers’ income and livelihood, and above all achieving food security. Key words: agricultural mechanisation, productivity, Nigeria, tractor