Thursday, 22 February 2018

SUB-STANDARD AGRICULTURE PRODUCTS EXPORT: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PROMISES IMPROVEMENT

The federal government at a meeting with the Inter-ministerial Technical Committee on Zero Reject of Agricultural Product and Non-oil Export in Abuja, recently has made a vow that Nigeria would never ship sub-standard agricultural produce to the international market.

The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who was reacting to the 2016 European Union (EU) ban on Nigeria’s beans export, said relevant measures were being put in place to lift the ban and stop the export of low quality produce. The minister, who also commended the committee, appealed to members to ensure that the country met international standard of agriculture products.

According to Chief Ogbe, farmers must be educated to ensure quality produce not only for export but for local consumption too. He added: “The world is in competition, driven by trade, buying and selling. Woe unto that country that only buys. This assignment is more serious than just targeting export. It is about our survival and living well.

“Most of the beans we export are consumed by Africans, so, if we don’t sell the right kind of beans, we run the danger of hurting everybody, particularly our own people. The quality of our products must be right. We can’t keep apologising.

“By the time we do the first test export and everything goes well, we must stand by the oath we have taken and never again ship sub-standard produce to world market.”

In his response, the head, Trade and Economics Section of the European Union delegation, Mr. Filippo Amato, hailed the federal government for tackling the issue of quality and safety of agriculture commodities. Amato said the EU, through the National Quality Infrastructure Programmme (NQIP) implemented by UNIDO, supported quality control plan in the country to enable the country to meet standard.

He added that the EU delegation was already consulting with Nigerian stakeholders on new competitiveness support programme that would focus on tomato, pepper and ginger value chain. He noted that the programme would be launched in 2018.

On the UNIDO-NQIP Integrated Export Control Plan, Dr. Shaukat Malik, the Chief Technical Adviser of UNIDO, said Nigerian authorities were expected to submit detailed action plan to the EU to avoid further rejections.

The inter-ministerial committee was inaugurated in 2016 as part of EU requirements to lift the ban on exportation of Nigeria’s dried beans. The committee was also to facilitate the consumption of local produce and stop rejection of agricultural produce at the international market. (Leadership)

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