WILBERFORCE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (WJSS)
ISSN: 2504 – 9232
Volume 11, No. 1, March, 2026
Pages 169-176
DOI: 10.36108/wjss/6202.11.0131
BEYOND ANNOUNCEMENTS: THE POLITICS AND RHETORICS OF MECHANISED AGRICULTURE IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA
Ben Tantua
Department of Economics, Niger Delta University, Delta State, Nigeria
Abstract
Nigerian governments often announce mechanisation schemes as solutions to food insecurity. However, the implementation and adaptations at the field-level remains low, thus creating a gap between policy rhetoric and agrarian reality. Using a descriptive interpretative approach, this paper examines how politics and rhetoric shape mechanised agriculture in Bayelsa State, based on statements during the 2025/2026 dry season rice programme. The 22 semi-structured interviews with officials, mechanics, and farmers; document analysis of press releases, and budgets, were analysed using thematic coding for rhetorical strategies, power relations, and institutional gaps. Three themes emerged from the study: (1) Rhetorical inflation, where the 300,000kg target functioned as political signalling without agronomic costing; (2) Patronage in access, where state farm priority and informal “calls from oga” determined machine allocation; and (3) Counter-narratives of distrust, where farmers reinterpreted “mechanisation” as “audio tractors” due to 11-day average downtime. In conclusion, mechanisation in Bayelsa operates as performative policy. Factor prices may induce demand, but political allocation of maintenance, spare parts, and access induces supply failure. Moving beyond rhetoric requires decentralised repair systems, transparent booking, and meso-level investment.
Keywords: Mechanisation, innovation, rice, modernisation, Bayelsa, Nigeria