From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Nigerian Exports Promotion Council (NEPC) has lamented the continued challenge of rejection being faced by Nigerian agricultural products meant for export markets at the border control points due to the presence of contaminants.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak disclosed this in his keynote address during a 3-day training program organized for Spray Service Providers (SSPs) in Benue Zone A held at Jechir Hotel, Vandeikya, Benue State.
Represented by the Trade Advisor/Head, Makurdi Export office Benue state Mr Ben Anani Egon, the NEPC boss listed the contaminants to include pesticides residues, mostly dichlorvos and other impurities exceeding the maximum permissible residual limit and some with inadequate packaging and labelling.
While noting that achieving food safety begins with using a holistic approach by ensuring good agricultural practices in production at the farm level, Yakusak maintained that recent studies indicated that over 70% of small-holder farmers and commercial farms in Nigeria use pesticides as control measures to prevent insects and pest attack on their crops.
“A greater percentage of this is applied at a post-harvest level during storage in warehouses prior to export. Moreso, the farmers and processors have no formal training or guidance on the safe use and appropriate application of pesticides.
“A large number of people involved in their application are not certified contract sprayers, hence, they suffer intoxication because of the lack of awareness of the technical principles of safe application or lack of the quality of the equipment used.
Yakusak further posited that inadequate application technique has market implications apart from direct contamination of soil and risk to the ecosystem adding that pesticide residues above recommended permissible levels not only endanger human health and lead to concerns about food safety but also seriously affect the export market of agricultural products.
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He maintained that the effects of pesticides residue have become an important issue of consideration in food safety management and a growing concern in the agri-food export trade in Nigeria
In Nigeria like in many developing countries, the technical consideration for safe and correct application of pesticides and herbicides are often neglected, unknown or not regulated.
He said it was on that note, that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) recommends that the use of pesticides in crop production to produce food, both for domestic consumption and for export should comply with good agricultural practices guidelines during primary production.
“A key component of the risk management measures in a pesticide control system is to train contract spray service providers certified to carry out pesticide applications in farms and warehouses.”
Yakusak further disclosed that the NEPC SSP project on the training of contract spray service providers on handling and appropriate use of pesticides seeks compliance with requirements of some EU food safety measures in addressing Nigerian agricultural export rejects due to pesticide residues.
“While considering that the structure of Nigeria’s agri-food exports is mainly characterized by dependence on primary production which accounts for the country’s non-oil export earnings in the agricultural export sector of the economy, the impact of farmer education in helping farmers to comply with standards in production practices cannot be ignored.
“Hence, the Council has over time, initiated intervention programs with relevant stakeholders aimed at helping small-holder farmers adhere to globally recognized food safety measures and Good agricultural practices
He assured participants that the council would continue to work closely with the smallholder farmers, processors of Nigeria’s key export commodities with necessary interventions measures and support in areas of capacity building, lending support with agro farm inputs, support to acquire requisite quality certification, and grants to improve on their productivity.
He also restated Council’s commitment to ensure continued collaboration with stakeholders for inclusive and sustainable participation of SMEs in the export business.
Earlier in a remark, Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Agber Aernan who was represented by Mr Stephen Agbaji, a permanent secretary in the Ministry commended NEPC for the training and promised that the state government would continue to do everything to support the project in the state.
The resource persons including Prof. Simon Irtwange, Prof. Rosemary Ahom, and Mr Samuel Tsenongo took their turns to train the participants on the subject matter.
One of the trainees, Mr Isaac Akpentomun commended NEPC for organizing the training for the people of Zone A, stressing that the lessons learnt would help farmers in the area to improve their yields.