Group picture |
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NAQS
expresses gladness
The European
Union (EU) may have concluded plan to lift the ban placed on Nigerian
agricultural produce as the country according to the Minister of Agriculture
and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh will make all effort to ensuring
standard produce being sent abroad. Meanwhile the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine
Service (NQAS) through its Coordinating Director, Dr. Vincent Isegbe has expressed
happiness of the new development for its economic impacts.
This
development was revealed during the Interactive Ministerial Committee of Zero
reject organized by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and European Union.
Chief Audu
Ogbeh reacting to ban on the nation’s beans by EU said that relevant measures
are being put in place to ensure the lift and also to stop the export of low
quality produce abroad, adding that Nigeria would never export sub-standard agricultural
produce again, while he advised that farmers must be educated to ensure quality
produce not only for export but for local consumption too.
He noted that “the world is in competition,
driven by trade, buying and selling” stressed that 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 produce must be right”
“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” said the minister.
The Head of
Trade and Economics Section of European Union Delegation, Mr. Filippo Amato on
the ocasion commended Federal Government for addressing the issue of quality
and safety of agriculture commodities adding that the EU, through the National Quality
Infrastructure Program (NQIP) implemented by UNIDO has supported Nigerian
quality control plan so as to enable the country to meet global standard.
Mr. Amato
added that the EU delegation was already consulting with Nigerian stakeholders
on new competitive support programme that would focus on tomato, pepper and
ginger value chains saying it would be launched anytime this year.
The Chief Technical Adviser of UNIDO, Dr.
Shaukat Malik also added that the Nigerian authorities were expected to submit
detailed action plan that would ensure non rejections to the EU saying that the
inter-ministerial committee was inaugurated in 2016 as part of 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.
Also
speaking, the Coordinating Director, Nigerian
Agricultural Quarantine Service (NQAS) Dr. Vincent Isegbe said that he is glad
with the current development of the European Union considering lifting the ban
on the nation’s agricultural produce as necessary measures were to be put in
place before 2019.
Dr. Isegbe
noted that the EU ban on beans had got a negative impact on the nation’s economy,
adding that there was need to avoid future rejection of Nigeria’s agricultural
commodities through a due process of proper certification by NAQS.
According to
Isegbe, the agency is doing its best to revert the situation, adding that “We
have had issues in the past concerning beans where the European Union suspended
Nigeria for three years for beans export. That is not good for us because it
means that all the farmers who are producing beans can no more export the
quantity that they are used to export’’.
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