………Initiative Targets 5,000 Women And Youth To Close The Gender Gap In Mechanization Ecosystem.
The First Lady of Nigeria, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, CON, has applauded the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for introducing the Agri360 Mechanization Training Initiative. She described it as a strategic investment in a mechanization-as-a-service economy, where farmers can access the right machinery at an affordable cost while empowering women and youth in the agricultural ecosystem.
Speaking during the National Colloquium on the role of women and youth in agricultural mechanization and official unveiling of AGRI360 Mechanization Training Initiative, held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja on Wednesday 9th September,2026, the First Lady ably represented by the wife of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Hajiya Nana Shettima stated the initiative would build the capacity of five thousand (5,000) women and young people in agricultural mechanization, digital agriculture, equipment operation and maintenance, entrepreneurship as well as agribusiness management.
The First Lady said the initiative was particularly significant because the future of Nigeria’s agricultural sector depended largely on empowering the country’s vibrant youth and resourceful women with the skills, tools and opportunities required to participate meaningfully in modern agriculture
Sen Oluremi Tinubu pointed out that agricultural mechanization would enhance traditional farming methods by increasing productivity, reducing the physical burden associated with farming and making agriculture more attractive to young Nigerians.
She noted that mechanization would create opportunities beyond farming itself, including equipment operation and maintenance, agricultural processing, logistics, technology, and other areas across the agricultural value chain.”
The First Lady revealed that young Nigerians were already redefining the agricultural landscape through the adoption of digital technologies, precision farming, artificial intelligence, drones and other innovative approaches.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu also stressed the importance of creating greater opportunities for women in agriculture, noting that when women acquire the skills and resources to earn incomes and grow their businesses, the benefits extend beyond them to their families and communities.
Setting the tone at the National Colloquium on the Role of Women and Youth in Advancing Agricultural Mechanization, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari stated that the future of Nigerian agriculture must move beyond physical labour to technology, enterprise and opportunity.
“A farmer using a hoe should not be expected to compete with a farmer using modern machinery. A young Nigerian should not look at agriculture and see only physical labour. The future of Nigerian agriculture must tell a different story,” the Minister stated.
He explained that mechanization allows a farmer to accomplish in hours what might otherwise take days, freeing valuable time and allowing knowledge, skill and enterprise to matter more than sheer human effort.
Sen. Kyari revealed that government’s ambition is to build a Mechanization-as-a-Service economy where farmers can access the right machinery, at the right time and at an affordable cost.
“Nigeria’s mechanization challenge is therefore also an employment opportunity. Every machine placed into productive use creates a need for trained operators, technicians, maintenance and repair services, equipment managers and viable service businesses.” He said.
The Minister noted that AGRI360 provides a bridge to that ambition, connecting skills with enterprise, technology with farmers, and mechanization with economic opportunity.
According to him, the initiative complements the Federal Government’s broader mechanization agenda, anchored by the National Agricultural Mechanization Policy and National Agricultural Mechanization Investment Strategy, launched in August 2026 to advance machinery manufacturing, assembly, servicing, innovation and investment in Nigeria.
“We cannot continue to organize agriculture around the expectation of the rains. Achieving this requires irrigation and water management to advance alongside mechanization. When farmers have access to both water and machinery, we can extend production beyond a single season,” he added.
Sen. Kyari paid tribute to the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for her work through the Renewed Hope Initiative, noting that empowering women and young people is not simply a social intervention, but an economic strategy.
He called on investors and development partners to invest in the mechanization ecosystem covering assembly, leasing, maintenance, spare parts, training, technology and financing.
“As we unveil AGRI360 today, the task ahead is to turn access into ability, ability into enterprise, and enterprise into greater productivity. That is the promise of mechanization: not machines for their own sake, but a stronger agricultural economy that works for more Nigerians,” he concluded.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, disclosed that the three-year AGRI360 framework targets 5,000 trained beneficiaries and is specifically designed to close the gender gap in mechanization.
He noted that evidence on the ground clearly showed that women constitute 49% of the agricultural labour force but they face systematic exclusion from mechanization with forgone earnings of at least $2.3 billion annually due mainly to low productivity, stressing that AGRI360 is designed to address this huge gap.
In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi stated that AGRI360 is conceived not simply as a training programme, but as a national mechanization skills, enterprise and service-delivery ecosystem.
He revealed that the initiative creates pathways for women and youth to become machinery operators, technicians, mechanics, drone operators, precision-agriculture specialists, software developers and fabricators.
The Managing Director, Mela-Chiyoma Pat Limited, Chief Engr. Patricia Stan-Dioka, said the real measure of the success of AGRI360 will not simply be the number of people trained, stressing that the programme is designed to translate skills into jobs, businesses and enterprise opportunities.
She noted that AGRI360 is designed to help participants understand and explore the wider ecosystem of agricultural mechanization, where behind every machine is a chain of jobs and businesses in machinery coupling, maintenance, operation and service delivery.
Captain Tractors India, one of the partners of the initiative with 32 years of experience in mini and small tractors having presence in 90 countries, said under Agri360 the company is deploying 50 tractors to each state of the country and will train as well as monitor farmers in modern farming. The company will also train youths in engineering and mechanics to handle the equipment.
The colloquium had in attendance the Representatives of Governors of Imo, Abia, and Lagos States, Members of the National Assembly, the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Development Partners, and Captains of Industry.
Ezeaja Ikemefuna
Head, Department of Information
9/9/2026
