It takes attention to detail in meeting
international standards before goods of Nigerian origin can be accepted,
because, left as they are, they wouldn’t have been acceptable. Also important
is that agricultural goods with quality issues can hardly be traced back to
source in Nigeria. As such, getting the required adjustments put in place, from
whatever part of the value chain, becomes difficult. It gets worse where the
product may have been defective from the farm, as identifying just where it
originated is nearly impossible at the moment, except by assumptions or
guesswork.
Vincent
Isegbe, director
general, NAQS explained in an exclusive interview, that the agency has started testing
the system with the hibiscus exports. The process, according to him starts by
grouping farmers for that commodity, likewise suppliers and exporters will have
to be grouped and assigned functions and duties.
Each of those groups is registered as an
association with laws that control them. There will also be sub-suppliers who
are mandated to supply only according to the standards requested by the main
supplier. Even before the crop is harvested such a person (the sub-supplier)
will be in constant communication with the farmers, ensuring they do not use
unwanted chemicals if they want to continue being patronised. The manner of
cleaning will also be stipulated as well as how it will be packed, ensuring
hibiscus is not packed with other field crops like mixing up with maize. When
this process is completed, such a person will mark those bags as those supplied
by him/her.
The main supplier will then pick those
bags, ensure the right procedure has been followed, ensure it is dry, there is
minimal roughage, and that everything is clean without sand. At this stage, it
is taken to the exporter that is required to record who supplied what bag.
Therefore, if there is an issue, he/she can trace it down.
In cases where certain chemicals have
been applied on the commodities, such as methyl bromide in fumigating the
Hibiscus, the bags to be used for those will have different colours from the
conventional white bags. The exact colour has not been finalised, but according
to Isegbe, it will be either pink or deep blue. This way, exporters will know
that those ones have been treated with methyl bromide and they are going
straight to Mexico. When the application of this system with Hibiscus value
chain records the desired results, it is then expected to extend to other commodities.
The quarantine boss also explained that
some information that was unavailable to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
at the time has now been provided, addressing the controversy generated earlier
in the year over application of methyl bromide.
According to him, “After NAQS shared some documents with NAFDAC, they agreed
that they did not know the extent of that category of exemption before issuing
a public alert against it. The fact is that there are three exemptions which we
brought out clearly and NAFDAC was not aware of and that’s why interagency
collaboration is important.”
He explained that if an agency is
making a policy statement on an issue that has to do outside its scope like
agricultural produce, it is important for them to get in touch with the agency
saddled with that responsibility. Under the Quarantine Pre-shipment (QPS), it
is allowed to use methyl bromide.
At the moment, he emphasised methyl
bromide is only being used for Hibiscus, based on an agreement with Mexico to
use methyl bromide for hibiscus being exported there. (BusinessDay)
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