EFFECTS OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC MELTDOWN ON AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION IN NIGERIA

Global economic meltdown or depression is a period of lost value in money while trade commences to mark time and inflation rate becomes high to the extent that the rich and the poor begins to run around to meet their essential needs. Global economic meltdown is as old as money currency and is a pronounced deprivation in wellbeing resulting to poor or inadequate agricultural mechanization, lack of basic human needs, food insecurity, lack of access to health services, experience of violence and insecurity. As such, this phenomenon has greatly affected human beings and their activities. The entire agricultural mechanization is capital intensive. This has affected farmers and agriculturists in getting access to agricultural machinery and equipment for mechanization of farm operations. Economic recession is accompanied by hardship, poverty retrenchment due to mechanization, non-payment of salaries and wages, joblessness and others. In Nigeria, the agricultural mechanization, which is the application of machines to agricultural operations to relief human labour, has been affected by the recession hence there must be financial interventions from government and other stakeholders to help out achieve its objectives. Agricultural mechanization and its management need more attention for more productivity with less arduous. For agricultural mechanization in Nigeria to succeed, it must be based largely on indigenous engineering initiatives to research, design, adopt, developed and manufacture of the machines, equipment and systems needed for all phases of agricultural mechanization