Post by Trade facilitator on Sept 6, 2021 21:48:44 GMT 1
Reasons Behind The Refusal Of US, EU Countries In Rejecting Agro Foods Exported From Nigeria
For quite some time now Nigerian farmers who are engaged in exporting of their farm produce to United States of America (US) and the European Union (EU) have been lamenting the refusal of both countries to accept agricultural food items exported from Nigeria into their countries.
The truth is that these countries do not even allow most of these commodities to cross their borders due to what they describe as the products containing excessive quantities of agro chemical substances.
We have been hearing this story for a very long time where agricultural commodities and foods from Nigeria were rejected because of excessive residues of agro chemical substances. And up till 2021 the same story is still being bandied about by farmers and exporters in the country.
It is very disheartening that the authorities in charge of inspecting the agricultural commodities before being loaded for export do not understand the requirements of these countries as regards the safety or accepted limits of agro chemical contents.
This hydra headed monster known as excess agro chemical content has reared its ugly head again in a gathering of agro product exporters at Yola, Adamawa state of Nigeria.
It is again being reported that stakeholders in the Nigeria agricultural food subsector have decried the rejection of locally produced food crops exported Western countries. The same story and lamentations we have been hearing over the years.
The lamentations took place at the launch of Agrochemical Safety Ambassadors in Yola, the Adamawa state capital. This is an initiative of Feed the future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity, jointly implemented by the Mercy Corps and Save the Children.
These stakeholders, most of them farmers lamented that their produce for export had been rejected because the produce contained high residues of agrochemical substances.
The same cry came from the Commissioner for Agriculture and Livestock Development of Adamawa State, Daware Iya-Umar that locally produced food crops for export get barred from the European markets because of high residues of agrochemical substances arising from wrong use or application of agrochemicals.
The question we should be asking ourselves at this stage is this, so all these years, we have not been able to learn how to apply agrochemical substances to our agro commodities during or after the production of the commodities or food crops?
It is very difficult to understand when even other stakeholders who have been part of the system for a very long time join in blaming improper use and application of agrochemicals for making it difficult for Nigerian food produce to pass standards set for food safety.
The situation has gotten to the level that it has taken the United States Government to set up Feed the Future Initiative, the United States Government’s Global Hunger and food Security Initiative to help us solve a very simple problem that has been besetting us all these years.
This is simply because the United States Government is concerned about the food their citizens eat and who produces the food for them. This is the main reason why they set up the agro-safety ambassadors according to the acting deputy chief of party; Feed the Future Initiative, Raymond Abogonye.
He told the audience that the US and their European counterparts care so much about the safety standards of the food they eat, and they have set standards which must be followed from crop production up to storage. However, our farmers are yet to observe these standards, particularly in their application and use of agrochemicals.
He said that agro-safety ambassadors which is the first level of awareness in addressing this problem, in the first phase is expected to reach 500,000 farmers in four states of Adamawa, Gombe, Borno, and Yobe where the activity is being implemented in the North East.
They want to use the market facilitative approach to include the chemical sellers themselves to start preaching the awareness to farmers who will come to buy the chemicals.
The initiative has over 1,000 chemical dealers on their register recruited for the campaign, with each chemical dealer to target 50 farmers on the safety use and application of agrochemicals.
This is a beautiful concept indeed. We had to wait this long for outsiders to come and do this by themselves.
We plead with our members to stay tuned to the forum as we will continue to monitor this activity which will help in making our agro products acceptable by the EU and the US.
For quite some time now Nigerian farmers who are engaged in exporting of their farm produce to United States of America (US) and the European Union (EU) have been lamenting the refusal of both countries to accept agricultural food items exported from Nigeria into their countries.
The truth is that these countries do not even allow most of these commodities to cross their borders due to what they describe as the products containing excessive quantities of agro chemical substances.
We have been hearing this story for a very long time where agricultural commodities and foods from Nigeria were rejected because of excessive residues of agro chemical substances. And up till 2021 the same story is still being bandied about by farmers and exporters in the country.
It is very disheartening that the authorities in charge of inspecting the agricultural commodities before being loaded for export do not understand the requirements of these countries as regards the safety or accepted limits of agro chemical contents.
This hydra headed monster known as excess agro chemical content has reared its ugly head again in a gathering of agro product exporters at Yola, Adamawa state of Nigeria.
It is again being reported that stakeholders in the Nigeria agricultural food subsector have decried the rejection of locally produced food crops exported Western countries. The same story and lamentations we have been hearing over the years.
The lamentations took place at the launch of Agrochemical Safety Ambassadors in Yola, the Adamawa state capital. This is an initiative of Feed the future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity, jointly implemented by the Mercy Corps and Save the Children.
These stakeholders, most of them farmers lamented that their produce for export had been rejected because the produce contained high residues of agrochemical substances.
The same cry came from the Commissioner for Agriculture and Livestock Development of Adamawa State, Daware Iya-Umar that locally produced food crops for export get barred from the European markets because of high residues of agrochemical substances arising from wrong use or application of agrochemicals.
The question we should be asking ourselves at this stage is this, so all these years, we have not been able to learn how to apply agrochemical substances to our agro commodities during or after the production of the commodities or food crops?
It is very difficult to understand when even other stakeholders who have been part of the system for a very long time join in blaming improper use and application of agrochemicals for making it difficult for Nigerian food produce to pass standards set for food safety.
The situation has gotten to the level that it has taken the United States Government to set up Feed the Future Initiative, the United States Government’s Global Hunger and food Security Initiative to help us solve a very simple problem that has been besetting us all these years.
This is simply because the United States Government is concerned about the food their citizens eat and who produces the food for them. This is the main reason why they set up the agro-safety ambassadors according to the acting deputy chief of party; Feed the Future Initiative, Raymond Abogonye.
He told the audience that the US and their European counterparts care so much about the safety standards of the food they eat, and they have set standards which must be followed from crop production up to storage. However, our farmers are yet to observe these standards, particularly in their application and use of agrochemicals.
He said that agro-safety ambassadors which is the first level of awareness in addressing this problem, in the first phase is expected to reach 500,000 farmers in four states of Adamawa, Gombe, Borno, and Yobe where the activity is being implemented in the North East.
They want to use the market facilitative approach to include the chemical sellers themselves to start preaching the awareness to farmers who will come to buy the chemicals.
The initiative has over 1,000 chemical dealers on their register recruited for the campaign, with each chemical dealer to target 50 farmers on the safety use and application of agrochemicals.
This is a beautiful concept indeed. We had to wait this long for outsiders to come and do this by themselves.
We plead with our members to stay tuned to the forum as we will continue to monitor this activity which will help in making our agro products acceptable by the EU and the US.
