Many of Nigeria’s small-scale and subsistence farmers – responsible for at least 80% of the country’s food production – cultivate their land by hand as they lack the financing to improve farming yields through mechanisation.

To remedy this, local automobile designer Olufemi Odeleye spent nearly a decade developing a solution: a prototype for a low-cost, multipurpose mini tractor repurposed from a traditional motorcycle. Dubbed the tryctor, the three-wheeled mini tractor comes with tyres suitable for farming and a 30-horsepower engine that can also be used as a generator, according to a How We Made It In Africa report.

Alterations to the motorcycle’s chassis and gearing system allow it to operate similarly to a traditional tractor, and it also features a disc plough, harrow and trailer. The Nigerian government financed the manufacturing of the first 10 tryctors and is currently conducting a pilot programme before  going commercial.

19 July 2016
Image: www.tryctor.com