- Agricultural mechanisation is the application of tools, implements and powered machinery and equipment to achieve agricultural production
- The 104 farmers became tractor owners through the Pay-As-You-Go model
Image: HANDOUT
Heifer International has purchased and handed over 104 tractors to 21,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.
This is in its efforts improve on mechanisation.
Agricultural mechanisation is the application of tools, implements and powered machinery and equipment to achieve agricultural production.
Heifer International Africa Programmes Senior Vice President, Adesuwa Ifedi said smallholder farmers are the backbone of Africa’s food systems.
They account for up to 80 per cent of food production in sub-Saharan Africa.
The organisation is a global nonprofit working to end hunger and poverty through sustainable farming.
“Equipping them with the right tools and resources, including appropriate and sustainable mechanisation, is essential for increased productivity,” Ifedi said.
She said access to affordable tractors can increase incomes of smallholder farmers.
“This will lead to not just enhance productivity, but will bring a plethora of critical transformational pathways of increased inclusion, an energised ecosystem and job creation for Africa’s energetic youth” Ifedi said.
A new report on Mechanisation for Africa released by Heifer International says Africa is the least mechanised continent.
“With just 13 tractors per 100 square kilometres of arable land, Africa significantly lags behind the global average of 200 tractors per hectare of arable land,” the report says.
The report, titled Mechanisation for Africa: Innovative financing for agricultural transformation and youth job creation, examined the role and benefits of agricultural innovation, mechanisation and financing in empowering smallholder farming communities in Africa while creating new opportunities in agriculture for the youth.
It says in recent years, mechanisation has emerged as a transformative force in Africa's agricultural landscape, but the journey towards mechanised agriculture is not without its hurdles.
“One significant challenge arises from the prevalence of smallholder farming, where the economic viability of adopting expensive machinery remains a concern," the report says.
"Low mechanisation in Africa contributes to the major differences in agricultural labour productivity seen across the world.”
It says the key factor driving these significant differences in output is mechanisation.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development says where farmers work only with hand tools, there is a biophysical limit to the amount of cropland that a single person can productively cultivate.
“But animal traction and, even more so, mechanical power can extend this limit,” says IFAD.
To address the challenge, Heifer partnered with Hello Tractor to launch a Pay-As-You-Go tractor financing service.
This is aimed at facilitating affordable tractor rental services to smallholder farmers via a tech platform that enables ease of access for beneficiaries.
It also eases monetisation for tractor owners and overall effective monitoring.
Hello Tractor is an agricultural technology company that connects tractor owners to smallholder farmers in need of tractor services.
The initiative provided services to 21,048 smallholder farmers in need of mechanisation services in the three pilot countries of Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, as of December 2022.
Ifedi said the 104 farmers became tractor owners through the Pay-As-You-Go model.
The project also created 368 direct jobs for youth serving as booking agents, tractor operators and technicians and 784 indirect jobs across target communities.
“The impact of this project, as shown in this report, has exceeded expectations and we are happy to have catalysed the unlocking of commercial capital that Hello Tractor needs to scale this innovation,” Ifedi said.
“We encourage stakeholders, including policymakers, development organisations and the private sectors to join us to promote responsible and inclusive agricultural mechanisation in Africa.”
Hello Tractor Founder and CEO Jehiel Oliver said by injecting capital at the base of the pyramid and empowering traditionally unbanked entrepreneurs to become tractor owners, they are driving economic growth and transforming livelihoods.
“This investment has unlocked commercial capital for Hello Tractor and has contributed to the prosperity of our tractor owners and the thousands of smallholder farmers they serve every season," he said.