AGCOMS International Trading Limited has launched the AGCOMS Academy, an industry-focused training institution aimed at developing the skilled workforce and entrepreneurs needed to support Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation drive.
The Academy was established to address a skills gap in the agricultural sector, particularly the shortage of trained personnel capable of operating, maintaining and managing modern agricultural machinery.
Chief Executive Officer of AGCOMS International Trading Limited, Chijioke Okoli, said too much attention had been placed on acquiring and deploying tractors and other agricultural equipment, without equal investment in the human capacity required to use and maintain them effectively.
He said the shortage of skilled operators, technicians, managers and mechanisation entrepreneurs could limit the productivity of investments in agricultural machinery and prevent farmers and agricultural businesses from fully benefiting from mechanisation.
“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 across the public and private sectors before establishing the Academy, adding that the experience highlighted the importance of developing specialised skills alongside investments in agricultural equipment.
According to him, the Academy’s initial programmes will target tractor and machinery operators, technicians, mechanisation-service entrepreneurs and managers responsible for agricultural operations.
Its flagship programme, Mechanisation Enterprise Management, is scheduled to commence in Abuja in November, with the institution expected to expand its training portfolio to cover other areas of the agricultural mechanisation value chain.
The programmes will also target supervisors, business owners and executives involved in agricultural operations, providing them with skills needed to manage machinery, field operations and the commercial side of mechanisation businesses.
Okoli said the Academy would adopt a practical, industry-based training model built around AGCOMS’ experience in operating, maintaining and servicing agricultural equipment.
“We teach what we operate,” he said, explaining that participants would learn through practical exposure to real equipment, field operations and the commercial realities of running agricultural enterprises.
Beyond producing skilled equipment operators and technicians, the Academy is expected to support the growth of mechanisation-service businesses by equipping entrepreneurs and managers with the knowledge required to develop commercially viable operations.
Okoli said the broader objective was to develop professionals capable of improving the productivity and lifespan of agricultural machinery while creating businesses that can provide mechanisation services to farmers.
He said AGCOMS hopes to develop the Academy into a respected institution whose graduates would contribute to the growth of Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation sector and eventually take their expertise to 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.