PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s launch of the Renewed Hope Agricultural Mechanisation Programme signals more than a boost to food production. It is a bold statement that agriculture, properly harnessed, can be a tool for economic revival, national cohesion and security. The commissioning of 2,000 tractors and thousands of implements under a partnership with Belarus is a promising start. With plans to cultivate 550,000 hectares, produce over two million metric tons of food and create 16,000 jobs, the programme could significantly reduce hunger and unemployment. But its true power lies in how it intersects with security.
AS both the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, recently warned, hunger and poverty have become security threats. Ribadu noted that deprivation drives insecurity, crime and violence. Musa pointed to how food insecurity and economic collapse, especially in the once-thriving Middle Belt, now form part of Nigeria’s worsening security crisis. The Fovernment Government is right to see mechanised farming not just as development but as defence; an attempt to disrupt the cycle where jobless youth are lured into banditry and terrorism.
HOWEVER, as THE NIGERIA STANDARD has long argued, the problems afflicting the Middle Belt go deeper. In many parts of states such as Plateau, Benue and Nasarawa and Southern Kaduna, indigenous farmers cannot access their ancestral farmlands due to the fear of Fulani herdsmen’s attacks. Some lands have been forcibly occupied by these heavily armed militia. Until these injustices are addressed and displaced communities are restored, food security will remain a mirage.
FOR the avoidance of doubt, the violence in these areas is not merely about poverty. It is rooted in jihadi expansionism, land grabbing and ethnic cleansing. These are existential threats to these indigenous nationalities. Therefore, while the agricultural drive is commendable, it must be accompanied by justice, security and the political will to return land to rightful owners.
PAST agricultural initiatives, such as Operation Feed the Nation and Green Revolution, came with fanfare but died from poor execution, elite capture and weak monitoring. The current effort must not follow suit. The inclusion of GPS-enabled equipment, structured financing and training gives hope. But sustainability will depend on transparency, grassroots ownership and real-time monitoring.
FURTHERMORE, the programme’s focus on youth is also strategic. “We are making farming more sexy to youths,” President Tinubu said. This shift in narrative is necessary. Rebranding agriculture as modern, dignified and tech-savvy is the only way to stem rural-urban drift and revive the farming economy. That is why stakeholders are optimistic. AFAN’s Femi Oke welcomed it. Ade Ajayi of the National Association of Young Farmers called for smart planning based on comparative advantage. And Yakub Bashorun, a seasoned agricultural bureaucrat, reminded us that Nigeria’s poor tractor-to-hectare ratio is a big drag on productivity.
BUT machines alone won’t feed the nation. The people who till the land must feel safe to do so. Peace is the fertiliser of food security. Air Commodore Darlington Abdullahi (retd.) put it best: “The children of the poor you fail to train will never let your children have peace.” Hunger and exclusion do not just threaten lives, they threaten the state itself.
This agricultural initiative has national healing potential. It can restore livelihoods, reclaim abandoned farms and give conflict-ridden communities a stake in peace. But only if the government walks its talk. There must be justice for the Middle Belt and all displaced peoples. Anything short of that will render the programme incomplete. Certainly, President Tinubu has made a strong start. Now the task is to make it count. Therefore, it must go beyond tractors and slogans by ensuring security, justice and continuity.