The Centre was established by the Act of the Nigerian National Assembly No.35 of 1990 for the development and promotion of agricultural mechanization technologies for the transformation of Nigeria’s agriculture The major planks of the Centre's mandate are the following functions:-
Encourage and engage in adaptive and innovative research towards the development of indigenous machines for farming a
nd processing techniques;
Design and develop simple and low-cost equipment which can be manufactured with local materials skills and facilities;
Standardize and certify in collaboration with the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), agricultural machines, equipment and engineering practices in use in Nigeria;
Bring into focus mechanical technologies and equipment developed by various institutions, agencies or bodies and evaluate their suitability for adoption;
Assist in the commercialization of proven machines, equipment, tools and techniques;
Disseminate information on methods and programmes for achieving speedy agricultural mechanization;
Provide training facilities, and organize courses and seminars specially designed to ensure sufficiently trained manpower for appropriate mechanization and
Promote cooperation in agricultural mechanization with similar institutions in and outside Nigeria and with international bodies connected with agricultural mechanization.