Firm Signs MoU to Facilitate Access to Affordable Farm Machineries
Zowasel has signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Corporation Nigeria, Honda Manufacturing Nigeria, and Standage Corporation to facilitate access to agricultural machinery for smallholder farmers in Nigeria in a bid to increase agricultural productivity and cut down on manual labour.
The development was disclosed at the 2022 Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) held recently in Tunisia.
According to the Managing Director of Mitsubishi Corporation Nigeria, Makoto Sato, the partnership offers the opportunity for Mitsubishi and other Japanese corporations to team up with agricultural technology startups like Zowasel to facilitate access to affordable agricultural machinery for smallholder farmers, adding that a sustainable platform like Zowasel, can directly impact farmers by reducing manual labour and increasing their income and quality of life.
Following the terms of agreement, Mitsubishi would coordinate and facilitate the entire partnership, while Honda would provide Honda-made agricultural machinery with technical and maintenance support.
Also, Standage will manage the sourcing and importation of Japanese-used machinery for the project and establish an ecosystem for Japanese-used farm machinery in Nigeria.
Specifically, Zowasel will be responsible for implementing and executing the machinery rental services through its remote Crop Centre infrastructures in Nigeria.
Zowasel will also provide good agricultural practices (GAP) training and ultimately create market access through its Marketplace platform. Before now, Mitsubishi partnered with Zowasel in early January 2022 and provided agricultural machinery such as harvesters, tractors, planters, and tillers to run a proof of concept of the mechanization rental services in Nigeria.
It was learnt that the partnership will offer opportunities to improve productivity most especially in food security and the quality of life of smallholder farmers across the country.
Agro Nigeria
