· OAW celebrates 25 years of advancing mechanised farming
Prince Samuel Joseph Samuel Prince Samuel, Executive Chairman of Origin Tech Group, owners of Origin Automobiles Works (OAW), a major player in the assembly and sale of tractors, trailers, and trucks for Nigeria’s emerging Agro and Agro-Allied industries and across Africa, has stated that the Nigerian agriculture industry is blessed with some fantastic policies written in archives. However, the sector does not face policy challenges but rather the ability to carry out consistent and resilient implementation.
Prince Samuel stated this during the press conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the business in Nigeria, recently in Lagos.
While fielding questions from the media, Prince Samuel said, “Nigerian agriculture has a fantastic policy written in archives. And I think we don’t have a policy challenge. We have a consistent, resilient implementation challenge.”
He said agriculture requires decisive government intervention, citing long investment cycles, low rural infrastructure, and exposure to global trade pressures.
“Agriculture happens in the rural area where there is land, and the rural area also has fewer assets, less food, less power, and longer distances,” he said. “It requires the right kind of capital and a lot of government support.”
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He warned that globalized agricultural trade has intensified competition, often putting Nigerian farmers at a disadvantage. “Why is a farmer in Russia able to produce at 200, and a farmer in Nigeria is producing at 1,000?” he asked. “That is where Origin Automobile comes in.”
According to him, the productivity gap is primarily driven by mechanisation efficiency, fuel consumption, and equipment quality, noting that simply providing tractors without addressing efficiency does not solve the problem.
“You give them a tractor that uses 10 litres per hectare, and another man has a tractor that uses two litres per hectare. You didn’t give them the same thing,” he said.
Prince Samuel said the company has also focused on human capital development through its Origin Eagle internship programme, launched in 2012, to train young engineers in tractor operations and maintenance. He said the programme is currently in its fifth cohort.
He added that in 2020, the company introduced the “All-in-One” programme, known as “Greener Hope” at the federal level, aimed at working with governments and large-scale farmers to develop food systems through sustainable complete mechanization.
“Today, if you partner with Origin Group, you don’t need to do anything. Just sign up for your decision to invest and allow Origin Automobile to make it happen for you,” he said.
Samuel said the company’s 25-year journey has shown that knowledge, experience, and understanding of local conditions are critical to building sustainable agricultural systems. “That is the biggest capital money cannot buy,” he said.
He reaffirmed Origin Group’s commitment to expanding complete mechanization to eliminate farmers’ drudgery, improve incomes, and strengthen Nigeria’s food security.
OAW, one of Nigeria’s largest tractor operators, also used the occasion to mark its 25 years of sustained involvement in Nigeria’s agricultural mechanization space, outlining how its interventions have helped reduce farmers’ drudgery, improve productivity, expand access to modern equipment, and reshape Nigeria’s food production landscape.
The anniversary was commemorated on Saturday at a media engagement attended by journalists and industry stakeholders, where the Executive Chairman of Origin Tech Group, Prince Samuel Joseph Samuel, reflected extensively on the company’s journey, challenges, and lessons from operating in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Samuel said the company did not originally set out as an agricultural mechanization firm, explaining that Origin’s early focus was on automobiles, trucks, and pickups, and on assembly. However, engagement with farmers across the country revealed a deeper structural problem within Nigeria’s agricultural system.
“Our dream and our initial plan were not to really do an agro-organisation. We were more into automobile trucks, pickups, and assembly. That was our primary business,” he said. “But when we go around and look into the face of the farmers, we realize that it really supports our factory, and it helps us support them with tools like farming tools.”
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He said this realization led Origin Group to begin supporting farmers with tractors, gradually expanding into a complete mechanisation and agric-services company over the years.
According to him, Origin Group became the first to introduce mini harvesters designed specifically for Nigeria’s smallholder farmers, helping them transition from manual tools such as hoes and cutlasses to mechanised solutions, including self-propelled planters, harvesters, mechanised tillers, and hand-operated tractors.
“Anything that you do to reduce drudgery, you improve the health of the farmer, you improve the income of the farmer, and you improve the productivity of the rural space,” he said.
The executive said the Group’s mechanisation drive over the past 25 years has created over 500,000 direct jobs in the agricultural value chain and empowered more than 1.8 million farmers through access to equipment and input loans.
He added that mechanisation support from Origin Group has significantly improved farm yields, noting that productivity has risen from as low as 0.1 tonnes per hectare to over 4 tonnes per hectare in some cases. In contrast, average farm sizes have expanded from about 0.5 hectares per farmer to more than 1.5 hectares.
Reflecting on national food output, he said Nigeria’s agricultural production has grown from about 50 million tonnes to over 80 million tonnes, with the potential to exceed 100 million metric tonnes if mechanisation is sustained and scaled.
Origin Group, he said, has also partnered with state governments to deepen mechanisation. He disclosed that the company supplied more than 1,000 pieces of equipment, including tractors, combine harvesters, sprayers, and hose reels, to the Niger State Government, along with maintenance services and farmer training.
Samuel said training and after-sales support were as important as equipment supply, stressing that many mechanisation programmes fail because farmers are not taught how to use, maintain, or finance machinery sustainably.
“One, you provided a tractor, but you didn’t teach the farmer how to use the tractor efficiently. That’s a problem,” he said. “Two, you didn’t provide proper maintenance so that he would get quick support. You even did that, but you didn’t provide sustainable spare parts.”
He explained that these gaps informed the launch of the company’s “Tractorise Nigeria” initiative in 2005, which aimed to provide tractor services to farming clusters across the country. This later evolved into “Tractor on the Go, a digital platform designed to improve access, coordination, and efficiency.
However, he noted that mechanisation in Nigeria remains complex due to geography, sparse rural settlements, and high logistics costs.
“You pick a cluster and put a tractor in one location, and the farmers are five to 30 kilometres away from each other,” he said. “This farmer pays you 10 naira, but you spend N20 to move the tractor. Will you go? You will not go.”
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