Chinese Insatiable Desire to Mechanize African Agriculture, Nay Nigeria

Chinese Insatiable Desire to Mechanize African Agriculture, Nay Nigeria

By Prof. M. K. Othman

In February 2024, a Nigerian-based Chinese agricultural machinery and equipment company, Chinige Technology Services Limited, invited me to speak as the keynote speaker at a high-level agricultural mechanization sensitization workshop for policymakers and managers of agricultural institutions. I used the NAERLS results of the 2023 wet-season agricultural performance survey (APS) to present the abysmal level of farm productivity and the vast unexplored and untapped agricultural potential that needed investment. The primary factor responsible for agriculture’s appalling and disappointing productivity level is inadequate, inaccessible, and unaffordable farm machinery and equipment for small-scale farmers, who constitute about 90% of the Nigerian farming population. NAERLS survey revealed that in the 2023 farming season, 80 percent of the farmers used hand tools – cutlass and hoe to carry out their farm operations, and less than 10 percent used tractors on their farmers. The use of simple hand farm tools (cutlass and hoes) is still the predominant practice by the majority (80%) of farmers nationwide. Except for Borno state, none of Nigeria’s 36 state governments and agencies owned up to 300 functional tractors. The postharvest losses of major crops ranged from 10 to 50 percent. The average yield of cereal crops was around 2 tons per hectare compared to their average potential yield of 8 tons per hectare. The average Extension Agents to Farm Families ratio was one to 6,238 nationwide. The result shows that Nigerian farmers tirelessly toil for a peanut.
The paper raised the interests of the participants, including the virtual participants from other continents.

The foreign investors saw golden opportunities to make huge profits while helping the country achieve its food security, earn foreign currency, and eradicate poverty. The workshop was followed by several discussions among stakeholders on how to implement some of the solutions and address the significant factor constraining the boost of agricultural productivity – making small-scale farm machinery and equipment available and affordable to farmers. The ultimate result was my invitation to high-level discussions with some agricultural machinery companies in the People’s Republic of China. Fortunately, Nigeria, as a liberal country, has a working relationship with the eastern and western countries. I was invited as a resource person among the high-level state policymakers who made it to China during this winter.
Mr. Shiwen Liu, the founder of Chinige Technology Services Limited, supported and championed the 10-day visit to China. Mr. Liu has been in Nigeria for around 15 years, creating jobs and wealth. His Company and factor have 95 percent of Nigerians among the over 200 direct employees and 100 percent of Nigerians among the over 1,000 indirect employees. We visited ten companies in China. The companies received us warmly, guided us around their factories, answered all our questions, and allowed us to access their impressive technologies and snap pictures, unlike Western companies, where photograph-taking is prohibited. At the end of each day, we were treated to sumptuous Chinese dishes of uncountable courses, from well-cooked bamboo plants to undefined and unknown seafood. You make your choice. What an experience!
Nigeria and China have a long history of cordial relationships. Three months ago, Nigerian President Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu made a state visit to China, which was followed by the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Mr. Wang Yi on Thursday, January 9, 2025. The two countries pledged to strengthen the China-Nigeria comprehensive strategic partnership on both occasions. Thus, our invitation aligns with both nations’ strategic relationships and interests. The development of Nigeria-China relations is robust, and their friendship is unshakeable, as noted by President Tinubu in one of his speeches.

Back to my recent visit to China, as an agricultural engineer with over two decades of experience in field agricultural extension services, I prepared a robust and in-depth presentation to attract investors in agricultural machinery supply and manufacturing to Nigeria. In one of the high-level meetings, my presentation with picture illustrations reflecting the Nigerian field situation made everyone agree with me on the need to support Nigeria in salvaging the precarious situation of agriculture. The paper focuses on agricultural mechanization in Africa, particularly Nigeria, which requires intervention to galvanize the economy in the right direction.

Nigerian populations constitute one-quarter of the African population. While my paper focussed on the need for investors to establish their manufacturing industries in Nigeria with a highly talented workforce, several challenges to setting up a factory were highlighted. Epileptic, unreliable, and exorbitant electricity is the most critical challenge to establishing a manufacturing factory in Nigeria.

Over the years, the government has struggled to provide sufficient electricity to meet the nation’s needs, to no avail—bureaucratic obstacles to accessing adequate land and poor infrastructure present additional challenges to establishing product manufacturing industries.

Additionally, the nation’s poor patronage of locally produced machinery and equipment and its resort to importation discourage industrialists. These challenges must be addressed to industrialize Nigeria.
The Federal Government is making efforts under the Green Imperative Program and Green Harvest to purchase tens of thousands of tractors and establish 100s Service Centers worth Billions of US dollars through loans. However, the efforts are slow and may not be adequate to mechanize Nigerian agriculture as Nigerian farmers can hardly afford to own, operate, and maintain a tractor. Loan recovery to farmers has been the greatest challenge to financial services to smallholders, as the cases of the Anchor Borrowers Program and NISAL microfinance loans are still fresh in our memory. There is a need for caution while moving in this direction.

Nigerian smallholder farmers need small agricultural machinery for tillage and planting operations, harvest, postharvest, and processing. We need to promote the use of power tillers, small-scale planters, harvesters, and threshing machinery. Nigeria should start manufacturing this equipment. Many Chinese companies are prepared to supply these machines in the short term and support Nigeria in beginning their production within the next few years. Thanks to our visit, the nation can afford to purchase one million power tillers with implements from these companies for smallholder farmers nationwide. It is an area that state and local governments can leverage to impactfully provide dividends of democracy through massive importation of small-scale agricultural machinery, equipment, and implements. Fortunately, five state commissioners of agriculture, three from the north and two from the south, were among the visiting delegation. They were all impressed with the latest farming technologies shown by the companies we visited, from hand-held, manually operated efficient planters to self-driven transplanters and farm drone monitors to automated soil moisture monitors and automated irrigation facilities. One significant advantage of doing business with Chinese companies is that their products are grossly cheaper than elsewhere. A smallholder farmer can afford a power tiller, and one tractor can buy twenty or more power tillers. Another advantage is the Chinese philosophy, “Let us be friends first before engaging in business.” Several memoranda of understanding for starting a “friendship” were signed during the visit. What a culture.
One concern about Chinese products is their inferior standard. However, this is not necessarily true. Sometimes, the customer is allowed to dictate preferences regarding dimensions and material composition. Most of the items in one Euro shop in Europe or ten Riyals shops in Saudi Arabia are Chinese products, and China cannot risk supplying low-quality products in these countries. Moreover, the country’s standard regulatory agency must ensure the supply of high-quality standards. I hope these commissioners can convince their executive councils to tie the knot with China to establish factories for manufacturing agricultural machinery in their states to benefit smallholder farmers.

The Henan Julung Technology Co. Limited was the most prominent company among the ten, with over 16 series of 140 types of products and 135 national patents. The company Chairman, Mr. Liu Shaolin’s warm reception was exceptional, and the company’s willingness to introduce its technologies to Nigeria was undeniable. It embodies the Chinese insatiable desire to mechanize African agriculture.

Nigeria, especially the five states—Kebbi, Plateau, Ebonyi, Cross River, and Kogi—whose agriculture commissioners witnessed the fantastic performances of the ten companies we visited and their eagerness to support Nigeria in achieving food security. Can they take the gauntlet? Time will tell.

Chinese Insatiable Desire to Mechanize African Agriculture, Nay Nigeria