MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Nigeria’s Agro-products And EU Ban
Nigeria’s Agro-products And EU Ban
10/08/2015 (Leadership Newspapers) - Recently, it was reported that the European Union (EU) has placed a ban on a number of Nigeria’s agricultural products, for not meeting the quality standards set for such items destined for their markets. In other words, the products failed the standardisation test and, therefore, did not meet the stringent international exports standards of countries in the Union. The items include beans, sesame seeds, dried fish, dried meat, peanut chips and palm oil. The restriction, it also indicated, will last till June next year.
Before the discovery of petroleum in commercial quantity, agriculture used to be the nation’s economic mainstay. Cocoa, rubber, timber for instance, financed the free education and other laudable policies of the then Western Region; groundnuts, ginger, cotton and other products bank-rolled development projects in the North, while palm produce put the Eastern Region on the world map, as one of the fastest growing economies in Africa decades ago. With easy petro-dollar, the country lost its agricultural momentum to the point that she is today a net importer of agro-products from palm oil, cocoa derivatives, rice to poultry and dairy products. Each year, the country spends billions of dollars importing agricultural products that can be conveniently produced locally.
However, as petroleum began to slow its unreliability as a waste asset, it dawned on the authorities to go back to the farm where it first started for the nation’s economy. But the approach has been largely half-hearted, uncoordinated and driven by festering corruption.
The country’s agricultural research centres are virtually moribund, just as some have been converted to other uses. Farmers operating with little or no input from government do their own things the best way they can, essentially for subsistence. The latest version of farm activity, agro-business, is largely politically intended to score cheap points or to corner state resources. Otherwise, with the kind of noise so far made by political leaders about the drive towards agriculture, we see no reason for the recent EU ban. In our opinion, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and its counterpart, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), owe the country an explanation for this latest international shame. They are expected to have a regulatory oversight functions on food and agricultural products especially those leaving the shores of the country for other markets. Are they alive to their duties and responsibilities in this regard? We share the view that this development is not only unacceptable but also embarrassing. The government must take urgent measures to find out what happened and deal with it urgently.
But, as in almost every sad situation, there is always a positive aspect. This EU ban may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Those food items that have been shut out of the international market can find willing consumers in the local market at very competitive prices. In the final analysis, all will not have been lost.
Before the discovery of petroleum in commercial quantity, agriculture used to be the nation’s economic mainstay. Cocoa, rubber, timber for instance, financed the free education and other laudable policies of the then Western Region; groundnuts, ginger, cotton and other products bank-rolled development projects in the North, while palm produce put the Eastern Region on the world map, as one of the fastest growing economies in Africa decades ago. With easy petro-dollar, the country lost its agricultural momentum to the point that she is today a net importer of agro-products from palm oil, cocoa derivatives, rice to poultry and dairy products. Each year, the country spends billions of dollars importing agricultural products that can be conveniently produced locally.
However, as petroleum began to slow its unreliability as a waste asset, it dawned on the authorities to go back to the farm where it first started for the nation’s economy. But the approach has been largely half-hearted, uncoordinated and driven by festering corruption.
The country’s agricultural research centres are virtually moribund, just as some have been converted to other uses. Farmers operating with little or no input from government do their own things the best way they can, essentially for subsistence. The latest version of farm activity, agro-business, is largely politically intended to score cheap points or to corner state resources. Otherwise, with the kind of noise so far made by political leaders about the drive towards agriculture, we see no reason for the recent EU ban. In our opinion, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and its counterpart, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), owe the country an explanation for this latest international shame. They are expected to have a regulatory oversight functions on food and agricultural products especially those leaving the shores of the country for other markets. Are they alive to their duties and responsibilities in this regard? We share the view that this development is not only unacceptable but also embarrassing. The government must take urgent measures to find out what happened and deal with it urgently.
But, as in almost every sad situation, there is always a positive aspect. This EU ban may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Those food items that have been shut out of the international market can find willing consumers in the local market at very competitive prices. In the final analysis, all will not have been lost.