Nigeria plans to export 72 metric tonnes of yam to Europe and the United States (US). It is targeting a yearly revenue of $8 billion from the export. This is seen as a boost for non-oil export, which will help in diversifying the economy. But, there are fears about quality and standards, which caused the rejection of Nigeria’s agro-allied products in Europe and the US. Can these fears be addressed? Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA asks.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh is upbeat. Under him, Nigeria’s push to build a robust export-based economy appears to have started.
Barring last-minute hitches, Nigeria will, this week, export 72 metric tonnes of yam to Europe and the United States (US). The shipment, according to Ogbeh, will be in three containers of 24 metric tonnes each; one container will go to the United Kingdom (UK); the rest, US.
Ahead of the planned shipment, the Minister has announced that the Federal Government targets about $8 billion annually from yam export.
Ogbeh, who made this known when he received the Technical Committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme in Abuja, said yesterday’s launch of the programme would enable the country earn foreign exchange from agric produce to substitute the oil and gas sector.
The Nigerian Yam Export Programme is a private sector initiative aimed at taking yam processing to the next level. It was inaugurated in February this year. Its Technical Committee was made up of representatives from the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), among others.
The Committee’s mandate was to sensitise farmers and exporters on the required international standards for yam before export, and facilitate acquisition of warehouses at the receiving destinations, among others.
The Yam Export Programme, The Nation learnt, became necessary because of Nigeria’s comparative advantage in yam production. Ogbeh put it in perspective when he said despite accounting for over 60 per cent of global yam production, “people do not know that we grow yam”.
While admitting that Ghana’s projection on yam export was impressive, the Minister expressed optimism that Nigeria can quadruple Ghana’s. “We should keep pushing to become number one in yam export,” he said.
As part of strategies to surpass Ghana in yam export to Europe and other continents, Ogbeh tasked the NAQS on reducing the inspection charges, pointing out that it will make the country competitive in the export market. He also tasked the Technical Committee on Yam Export on mechanised heap making to work for the design of a plough that can make yam heaps.
Ogheh, who pledged that government will work on the packaging and use of the right type of trucks for transportation of yam, also assured yam exporters of government’s support, assuring that government will refund everything they spent on the venture.
The Committee Chairman, Prof Simon Irtwange, said the committee was working with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to train farmers and improve some yam varieties.
While stating that the committee had prepared a four-year action plan for the yam value chain programme in the country, he solicited better funding for the committee.
“We have standards that we are following and they have to do with pytho-sanitary requirements to meet international standards. We have combined the standards of Ghana and Nigeria to make sure our yams are not rejected at the international market,” Irtwange said.
Why govt, operators are excited
It is easy to see why the Minister and indeed, operators in the non-oil export business are excited over Nigeria’s prospects of reclaiming her prime position in yam export. For one, the cheery news came at a time the nation was losing the US’s patronage of its crude oil, forcing her to focus on agric produce to penetrate the US market.
Most importantly, the development came after a barrage of import ban on Nigeria’s agro-allied products into the EU and US markets over quality and standard-related issues, which left the authorities and Nigerians thoroughly embarrassed. It also dealt severe blows to Nigeria’s push to boost non-oil export and facilitate economic diversification.
For instance, last year alone, the EU rejected 24 exported food products from Nigeria for not meeting standards. Some of the food items denied entry, according to the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), included groundnut, palm oil, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish, meat and beans.
NAFDAC spokesperson, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh explained that information made available to the agency showed that groundnut was rejected because it contained aflatoxin, which made the quality substandard.
He said the exported palm oil, on the other hand, did not scale through the EU’s test because it also contained a colouring agent that was carcinogenic. Jimoh also said Nigeria’s beans were banned by the EU sometime ago, but they were illegally exported to European countries.
The EU had in June 2015 banned the importation of Nigeria’s dried beans on grounds that it contained high level of pesticides considered dangerous to human health. This came after the Republic of Ireland rejected and returned five containers of beans exported from Nigeria to the country.
The products were said to have been received with heaps of weevils. Apparently embarrassed by the development, the relevant government agencies said they were working to get the EU lift the ban. But as it turned out, the European body was not impressed by measures taking by Nigeria to resolve the issue.
Accordingly, the EU extended the ban by another three years, citing the continued presence of dichlorvos (pesticide) in dried beans imported from Nigeria.
“The continued presence of dichlorvos (pesticide) in dried beans imported from Nigeria and maximum residue levels of pesticides shows that compliance with food law requirement as regards pesticide residual cannot be achieved in the short term.
“The duration of the importation prohibition should therefore, be extended for an additional period of three years to allow Nigeria implement the appropriate risk-management measure and provide required guarantees,” the EU said.
The extension of the ban is expected to expire next year, with Jimoh noting that NAFDAC and other regulatory agencies are working round the clock to ensure that when the ban is lifted, “we can then begin to export more agricultural products to the EU”.
Cocoa also banned
While Nigeria was still rattled by the extension of the ban on beans, the US added to her woes by banning the importation of Nigeria’s cocoa into its market. The US authorities were said to have taken the action because Nigeria’s cocoa did not satisfy the standard required for exportation into the US.
These were major setbacks for Nigeria currently struggling to boost non-oil export and diversify her economy severely battered by the crashing oil prices. The situation was more worrisome, especially considering the fact that international attention was shifting to Ghana’s and Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa.
Quality, standards take center stage
Although, experts and industry operators say Nigeria’s plan to export yam was an indication that the nations’ drive for a non-oil economy was on course, they noted that sustaining the current tempo required addressing the fundamental issues of quality and standards that cause Nigeria’s exports rejection in the first instance.
Some of them, who spoke with The Nation, specifically said apart from the need to put in place functional laboratories for testing and certifying products before export, synergy amongst standards regulatory agencies was imperative.
Founder, Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mr. Robo Adhuze, observed that lack of seriousness by the Federal Produce Inspection Service (FPIS), the agency responsible for checking and certifying agro-allied products leaving the country, was robbing Nigeria the benefits of a vibrant non-oil export-based economy.
“Quality standards have moved from physical standards to biological standards, but FPIS appears not be up to speed with this reality,”he said, recalling that Ghana suffered the same fate about five years ago when over 2, 000 metric tonnes of her cocoa beans were rejected by Japan.
He said the Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan appealed to Ghanaian authorities to take immediate steps to reverse the excessive agro-chemical residues found in cocoa beans exported to the Asian country.
He said Ghana’s standards regulatory authorities rose to the challenge by putting in place appropriate and adequate measures to guarantee the quality of her cocoa products for export.
Adhuze expressed disappointment that while Ghana’s standards regulatory authorities took steps to reverse the excessive agro-chemical residues found in their cocoa beans, Nigeria was unable to do so, resulting in the harvest of import ban that threatened the non-oil sector, especially agro-allied products.
The expert also pointed out that Nigeria’s lack of seriousness is underscored by the fact that despite exporting cocoa for over 100 years, the country has no defined cocoa policy to identify the basic links in the cocoa value chain.
According to him, there was need for a policy on cocoa farming with appropriate institutional framework to boost its production through proper identification of all the actors, who have stake in the industry, from farmers to processors, marketers and exporters, among others.
Agencies move to halt export rejections
As part of efforts to sustain the current tempo, NAFDAC has urged exporters to subject their products to its standard and internationally accredited laboratories for proper certification.
Screening and certification of any product for export by NAFDAC, he said, was free of charge in spite of facilities, personnel and chemical reagents being used to conduct such tests.
“The Federal Government is doing this as a deliberate policy to encourage our exporters and to satisfy international standards for exports. We are now appealing to our exporters not to run away from product certification of NAFDAC.
“It is free and we don’t charge anything for such service. We have adequate personnel and equipment to carry out such responsibility in the country,’’ Jimoh said.
He lamented that the exporters action has put the country’s image in bad light and caused a huge loss to exporters themselves, which negatively impacted the economy.
According to him, NAFDAC had six functional laboratories across the country, which conduct various types of products tests.
NAQS Co-ordinating Director, Dr. Vincent Iseghe, on his part, has called for effective collaboration amongst export processing agencies to ensure efficient, result oriented and 100 per cent acceptance of Nigerian produce at the global markets.
Similarly, the Agro-Allied Group of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has called for stricter issuance of phytosanitary certificates for export-bound agricultural produce.
Speaking in Lagos, its Chairman, Mr. Tunji Falade, canvassed intensified collaboration between export regulatory agencies, organisations, exporters and farmers, adding that the rejection of the commodities by the EU should not be seen as victimisation, but an opportunity to reposition Nigeria’s export system. “What we should be trying to do now is to ensure that we get this export issue right, in terms of all the standards involved,” he said.
Right now, we have some agencies that are supposed to be involved in the regulation of this process. Apart from the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), we have NAQS
“All of these organisations and agencies really need to collaborate with exporters, farmers, agronomists and stakeholders to ensure that before the products leave the country, all the standards are met. The issuing of phytosanitary certificates to export-bound agricultural produce should be very strict,’’ Falade said.
