In Cross River, Ayade brings excitement to farming with easy to operate tractorization system


By Chidi Onyemaizu 


Using West Africa as a case study, the trio of Xinshen Diao, Jed Silver and Hiroyuki Takeshina of International Food Policy Research Institute in a 2016 study entitled "Agricultural  Mechanization and Agricultural Transformation" said: "Mechanized plowing significantly reduces the amount of labor required for land preparation and 

typically results in small decreases in the labor required for weeding and harvesting.

"Where hired labor represents a relatively large share of production costs, even smaller 

farmers, begin to demand mechanization technology when labor cost starts to rise in order to reduce their labor and total production costs"

Ramrod exactness of the researchers' postulations is long held by His Excellency, Professor Ben Ayade, a scientist of over two decades standing.

And that explains why Cross River under him is in upward swing of Agricultural production.

In today's Cross River, small scale farmers can now farm without much sweat.This is because under Ayade, the era of laboriously tilling the soil is giving way for semi- tractorisation system which allows farmers to effortlessly operate mechanized farm implements themselves.

Notedly, Cross River's agro industrialisation drive is witnessing paradigm shift in tractorization and farming with the introduction of easy to operate semi- mechanized machines.

The hand-operated ploughing machine and rice milling machine introduced by the governor which were recently demonstrated at the Industrial Park, Calabar are primed at further launching the state as an agricultural hub.

The ploughing machine is a utility machine that has the ability to execute multiple farming tasks.

Ayade: "The machine ploughs, so it can plough your soil to enable you plant. It is also a vehicle- all you need is change the steel tyre to normal rubber tyre and put a hook at the back and it becomes a vehicle capable of carrying about five persons in the farm.

"It is also a generator, it can generate electricity. It can equally function as a pumping machine to pump water to water your farm.”

And with the hand operated rice milling machine, small holder rice farmers can now quickly mill their produce and sell to waiting consumers.

Though the semi- mechanized machines are produced in Asia, Cross River is now on the verge of mass producing them for farmers at Construction and Fabrication Academy, Calabar, in the same manner industrialised part of Asia started with the production of mini- machines.


Governor Ayade is irrevocably committed to making farming seamless and attractive to people.The hand operated semi- mechanized machines are expected to go a long way in achieving this.

According to the governor: "We are encouraging young men and women to go into agriculture and take advantage of agricultural techniques my administration has put in place to enable them enjoy themselves while earning a living....What I have done about farming is to make it exciting and pleasant..so there's nothing stopping a graduate from going into farming."


With about 80 percent of industries he has set up since coming to office agro-based, governor Ayade is living out his creed: Hands on the plow, food on the table. Through massive investment in Agro- based industries, he is working to ensure that every family in Cross River is not only able to feed itself but also become an employer of labour.

Ayade's Agricultural drive in the state evidently verges on the principles of the 1876 agro- industrial revolution in Europe.  In his words, "If you have to sweat in Cross River, you don't sweat because you are tilling the soil, you sweat because of pleasure because machines will be doing your job"

One day one day, we will learn to get excited over greater things.