AGCOMS International Trading Limited has established the AGCOMS Academy, a specialised training institution focused on developing the workforce and entrepreneurs required to advance agricultural mechanisation in Nigeria.

The Academy was created in response to a skills shortage within the agricultural sector, particularly the limited number of trained professionals equipped to operate, maintain and manage modern agricultural machinery.

Chief Executive Officer of AGCOMS International Trading Limited, Chijioke Okoli, said investment in tractors and other agricultural equipment had received considerable attention, while the human capacity needed to operate and maintain such machinery effectively had not received equal focus.

According to Okoli, the shortage of skilled operators, technicians, managers and mechanisation entrepreneurs could undermine the productivity of investments in agricultural machinery and limit the benefits available to farmers and agricultural businesses.

“You do not mechanise a country by shipping in equipment alone. You mechanise it by building the people who make the equipment productive before they arrive,” Okoli said.

He disclosed that AGCOMS had trained more than 380 people from both the public and private sectors before setting up the Academy. He said the experience demonstrated the need to develop specialised expertise alongside investment in agricultural machinery.

The Academy’s initial training programmes will focus on tractor and machinery operators, technicians, mechanisation-service entrepreneurs and managers overseeing agricultural operations.

Its flagship programme, Mechanisation Enterprise Management, is scheduled to begin in Abuja in November. The institution is also expected to broaden its training portfolio to other segments of the agricultural mechanisation value chain.

Supervisors, business owners and executives involved in agricultural operations will also be targeted. The programmes are intended to provide participants with the capabilities required to manage machinery, oversee field operations and handle the commercial aspects of mechanisation businesses.

Okoli said the Academy would use a practical, industry-based training approach informed by AGCOMS’ experience in operating, maintaining and servicing agricultural equipment.

“We teach what we operate,” he said, explaining that participants would receive practical exposure to actual equipment, field operations and the commercial realities involved in running agricultural enterprises.

The institution is expected to go beyond training equipment operators and technicians by supporting the development of mechanisation-service businesses. Entrepreneurs and managers will be equipped with knowledge aimed at helping them establish commercially viable operations.

Okoli said the wider goal was to produce professionals who could enhance the productivity and lifespan of agricultural machinery while establishing businesses capable of delivering mechanisation services to farmers.

He added that AGCOMS wants the Academy to become a respected institution whose graduates would contribute to the development of Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation industry and eventually apply their expertise in other African markets.

“We are not trying to be the biggest school. We are trying to be the one that made the sector work,” Okoli said.

Source msmeafricaonline