Lagos, Nigeria, July 2, 2020. Origin Automotive Works, a leading indigenous technology firm, has unveiled a new tractor hailing App, “Tractor on the Go” as part of efforts to revolutionize agricultural and farming practice in Nigeria. a project which has taken five years in development, training and local capacity building has now come of age. It required building a robust platform, infrastructure base across the 36 states; training operators and mechanics, and most importantly logistics of moving tractors around.
Tractor on the Go is a mobile application platform that helps connect millions of farmers to modern agricultural facilities and equipment such as tractor, sprayers, planters and harvesters. The app is designed with simplicity, ease of use and functionality in mind with a guarantee that users will enjoy hassles-free experience while searching for reliable and efficient mechanization equipment for their farmland.
Speaking at the launch of the mobile application platform held on Thursday, July 9, 2020, President, Origin Group, and Chief Innovation Officer, Prince Joseph Samuel explained that the launch of the mobile app is geared towards eliminating impediments on the way of expanding mechanization and delivering seamless mechanization services to farmers in remote villages with a singular objective of helping farmers optimize yield and maximize farmland productivity. He added that TOG is committed to shifting farmers’ orientation towards the opportunity to farm not only during the wet but also during the dry season via the adoption of irrigation technology provider as part of the company’s numerous services
Prince Samuel noted that the mobile application which is beneficial to different category of users including agents, farmers and operators has been designed to assist users access tractors that would enable them to perform timely farming operations and achieve economies of scale in food production.
He went further to state the application is the first of its kind because is a muti-stakehholder all-inclusive approach that enable banks to finance and recoup investment seamlessly, government to offer subsidy to farmer only for service rendered rather than invest in tractors annually. It also enables investment on agriculture mechanization as investors will have real-time information on their equipment productivity and to farmers, it is goodbye to endless wait in searching of tractors. According to him, with such mobile application, the challenge associated with self-sufficiency in food production may become a thing of the past as farming equipment such as tractor would become readily available through this platform.
Speaking on the features of the application, Mr. Olusegun Emmanuel, Product Development Manager, noted that the platform remains the biggest game-changer that would take agricultural practice to new heights noting that this would certainly attract interest from youths who are unemployed at the moment. disclosed that the application offers the users the opportunity to indicate necessary details while requesting tractors. Some of which include type Of Operation, Land Type, units among others. “With ‘Tractor on the Go’, you are allowed to provide some details that can ensure effective use of the tractor you are requesting. For instance, if the land was tractorized at most 2 months ago or has never been tractorized at all, the application would allow farmers factor in this information in making a request. Besides, one can also indicate through the application, the number of activities you want to perform. With this application, you can easily target the right customers for your business with the help of patented segmentation technology. These and many more are what the platform offers to end-users to make farming operations easier”, he said
“We are very optimistic that the introduction of this application would improve farmers’ yield. With such smart farming technologies, we would be able to reduce costs, maximize yields and profits for farmers and other users and still be incredibly efficient in the process”, Emmanuel said.
