Expert Urges Produce Review to Avoid Exports Rejection

commodities

Following the recent rejection of some of Nigeria’s exported food items by the EU, the Federal Government has been urged to improve on its export standards in order to ensure that commodities for export meets the required European Union standard for import.

The Chairman Board of Trustees, Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria, Prof Dele Fapohunda, who gave the urge while addressing a workshop organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council in Abuja, described the rejection as not only detrimental to the agricultural sector, but is also counterproductive to the economy.

Fapohunda said the items banned from Nigeria by the EU till June next year include, beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish and meat, peanut chips and palm oil, which according to him, the reasons given were the presence of aflatoxins and pesticides at unacceptable levels in this produce.

He stated that plans to make the agricultural sector a major revenue earner for the country may suffer a setback, if produce from the industry are being rejected by foreign countries.

According to Fapohunda, local exporters were at the risk of suffering losses, since imports are significantly protected by the high standards of the major food suppliers and retailers, and the regulatory controls which deter the importation of seriously contaminated material.

He urged for stringent mycotoxin standards on exported food crops, noting that countries must export their best-quality foods while keeping contaminated foods away.

For Nigeria to make remarkable agricultural progress, the Chairman said further action is required to address new and emerging contamination challenges.

In his advice, Fapohunda said Nigeria needs to improve its policy environment, to enable investments that will  help exporters to adapt to the opportunities created by rising export demand.

He noted that since increasing agricultural exports is now an integral part of the government’s sector-development strategy, the government should help exporters to streamline exports with the ever-changing food quality and safety norms of major importing countries. According to him, there have been concerns over pesticide residues in horticultural produce.

He therefore urged the food industry in the country to deal with various fundamental issues impacting food quality and safety across the supply chain.

Fapohunda noted that in order to further harness the potential of the agriculture and food industry, robust policy strategies on food quality and safety are imperative to improve standards and secure greater market access of food products in the developed markets.