Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Federal Government has commenced talks with the European Union to reverse the ban placed on Nigeria’s agricultural produce exports to Europe.
Coordinating Director, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Dr. Vincent Isegbe, disclosed this, on Thursday, at a workshop, in Abuja.
Recall that in 2015, the EU banned Nigeria from exporting beans and other produce to Europe due to high level of chemical contamination.
Isegbe emphasised that balanced diet could not be achieved without fruits and vegetables, stressing that aggressive advocacy and active participation of crop life, will help.
His words: “The EU ban seizes officially in June 2019 we are discussing and we have gone to do periodic sampling on the level of chemicals in our beans.
“With that, we will know if the farmers are complying with our regulations and advice. So far so good, the chemical level is reducing. Though it at a slow pace but it’s reducing.”
“The country has a demand of 40, 000 metric tons vegetable but unable to achieve.
“We can grow all these commodities all year round either winter or summer. We have a great opportunity to send these commodities to European nations, America during the time of winter or when the winter is just finishing, so the market is always there.
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“In term of the exporters, we have gone to the point to discuss with major exporters, for you to be able to export, you need to buy from the farmers we had trained to know specific commodity.
“If you buy and have issue with them, with the structure that we have put in place, it is easy to trace back, so there is a chain of flexibility at any point in time which will really help us on our export.
“We have decided to pick 10 commodities and do basic analysis on those commodities so that any young man that is educated and want to go for export will have the basics and understanding of the commodities,” Isegbe added.
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