Tanzania could be the first country in East Africa to replace hand-held hoes used by its smallholder farming communities with heavy agricultural equipment such as tractors.
Under the new Equity for Tanzania (EFTA) equipment loaning scheme without the need for collaterals, almost every hoe deploying peasant in Tanzania will be transformed into a fully mechanized farmer.
This new initiative is projected to see nearly 4 million peasants and farmers ditching their hand-held hoes and adopting the use of high-tech, precisely modern tractors to execute their food growing industries.
More than 200 farmers in Manyara, Dodoma, Morogoro and Shinyanga Regions are meanwhile also undergoing practical training in Agricultural Mechanization for future food security, an initiative hatched through EFTA Equipment loaning scheme.
The training will be conducted in Hanang’ District of Manyara, Kibaigwa in Dodoma, Kahama, Shinyanga and Kilombero in Morogoro, where EFTA is loaning out agricultural machinery to local farmers.
“In association with our business partners, the CRDB Bank and Hughes Agriculture, EFTA is loaning out 200 New Holland branded tractors to farmers as well as Small and Medium Enterprises in the country’s agricultural sector,” said Nicomed Bohay, the EFTA Managing Director.
But in order to effectively handle the tractors and related accessories, EFTA is also setting out to field train local farmers in agricultural mechanization, issues of climate change and financial management.
That is aimed at transforming their farming activities more resilient to weather elements and relatively more profitable.
EFTA is a leasing company regulated by the Bank of Tanzania with the mission of financing equipment without collateral for Small and Medium Enterprises that cannot access bank financing.
The institution has already issued 330 new tractors to farmers in the last twelve months.
This time again EFTA has procured 200 units of New Holland Agriculture branded TT75 Four-Wheel-Drive tractors with 75 Horsepower, for leasing to smallholder farmers.
It is being done to support the country’s 2025 vision for mechanization, increase agricultural production, and improve food security.
EFTA currently has 1,045 active leases and has financed over USD 69 million in equipment for SMEs and farmers.
A total of 1800 tractors are sold in Tanzania every year, which means the 530 such machines being loaned through EFTA, account for 23 percent of the country’s annual farm tractors deployments.
New Holland Agriculture, a brand of CNH Industrial, Hughes Agriculture Tanzania Limited (HAT), the local distributor in Tanzania, and CRDB bank are working together to structure and execute this transaction.
The project is aimed at bringing mechanization to more than 3.7 million smallholder farmers in the country.
“Mechanization will ensure the long-term goal of Tanzania becoming food secure. We at Hughes Agriculture are proud to play a role in helping farmers to start using tractors and other machinery to speed up work and improve their yields!”
Stuart Leishman – the Managing Director of HAT.
The New Holland Business Director for Middle East and Africa, Özkan Eren added that other than supplying equipment, they were also committed to train the farmers and offer all technical support they may require in order to boost both productivity and profitability.
This initiative will be rolling out to all regions in Tanzania and later on to reach out to Kenya and other parts of East Africa.
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