Stakeholders lament Custom charges on agriculture equipment

Stakeholders in the agriculture sector have expressed worry over Custom charges on selected agriculture equipment, despite government policy of zero tariffs on machines.

They are concerned that four-wheel tractors attract 0 percent in Custom charges, while two-wheel motor cultivator attracts about 35 percent.

They called for harmonisation of Custom charges on agriculture equipment, such that four-wheel tractor and two-wheel tractor would fall under the same code, so that they attract zero charges when imported.

The Managing Director, Goshen Greenland Limited, David Okpon, said this, yesterday, at the ongoing Nigerian Agribusiness Group (NABG) conference and Agrikexpo in Abuja. He lamented that a motor cultivator they bought for N2.1m had not been collected because of 35 percent Custom service charges, running into N745, 000.

He said: “The major interest behind bringing in the motor cultivators is because the people feeding Nigeria are small holder farmers, who have been labouring with hoes and cutlasses and we thought we should empower this segment of farmers in the country.