Delta State Government has signed an agreement with twenty farmers-based cooperative societies in the state for the ownership and management of 46 tractors and their component implements.
Under the agreement, a benefiting cooperative society is required to pay 40 percent of the total cost of a tractor and its implements which amounts to N6.2 million.
Although the payment is spread across four years, each of the benefiting cooperative is however required to pay ten percent from the onset as a mark of commitment, according the Chief Job Creation Officer of the state, Prof. Eric Eboh.
Prof. Eboh who signed on behalf of the government said the gesture was geared towards actualizing the vision of allowing farmers to take their destinies in their own hands.
He congratulated the benefiting cooperatives, disclosing that they were painstakingly selected from a pool of 962 cooperatives that initially applied for the tractors.
Eboh noted that the selection process was "very transparent," adding that the twenty cooperatives that made the final list were "found capable, credible and met the terms of agreement."
The Job Creation Officer added that measures have been put in place to monitor the use of the tractors by farmers and ensure that the aim is not defeated.
He said a lot of cooperatives did not meet the basic requirements of running cooperative societies, noting that "this is a wake up call for those who are promoting operatives to go back to the original status of how cooperatives should be run.
"It is not supposed to be a one man activity, it is not a sole proprietorship. A cooperative society is made up of cooperators, that is the original design. So you must have people cooperating to have a cooperative society."
President of one of the benefiting cooperatives, Comrade Jurist Umeri told newsmen that he was satisfied with the terms of agreement, adding that the initiative will spur youths into agricultural activities.
The initiative, it was gathered, is under the Tractorisation and Development of Agro-Industries scheme which is one of the components of the job creation scheme of the present administration.