Former President, John Dramani Mahama, has asserted that farmers do not need agricultural equipment, such as tractors, to aid their work.

According to him, these farmers rather need the services of someone who operates a tractor.

In his view, his government erred in importing tractors and agricultural equipment for farmers as they were unable to use them to the maximum and maintain them.

Speaking at the 59th Munich Security Conference 2023, the former president said if given the chance again, he would rectify this problem to help farmers grow their yields and business.

John Dramani Mahama said, “I realised some of the things that we did, we made mistakes, we imported tractors and agricultural equipment, and we gave it to farmers. The farmer does not need the tractor, he does not need the agricultural equipment, he needs the services of a tractor,”

“So somebody who knows how to maintain that tractor must have a service centre, where he provides the services to the farmer. But we gave the tractors to the farmers, and in a year or two the tractor had broken down because he [farmer] doesn’t know that every six months you must change the engine oil, you must change the filters, you must grease the tractor, he [farmer] doesn’t know that. So we will approach it differently," he stated.

John Dramani Mahama is the Chairperson of the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa.

South Africa’s Minister for Defence, Thandi Modise, was the keynote speaker for the event.

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