Nigeria pushes for solution to agro-exports rejection in global market

Nigeria’s food production potential has never been in doubt given that the country is considered as having the seventh most arable land in the world with an estimated 34 million arable hectares, according to a 2020 data presented by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Though the country has over the years generated significant revenue from agriculture, with agricultural production ranked among the 10 key export categories, the rejection of its agro-exports especially in the European Union has been a continual hindrance to competitiveness in the global market.

Some 76 percent of Nigeria’s exported commodities face rejection by the EU for failing to meet required standards, according to Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

“About 76 per cent of our products are rejected by the EU and it is NAFDAC that is informed using the rapid alert systems that these products have been rejected,” Adeyeye said on Channels TV breakfast show, Sunrise Daily.

The professor of Pharmaceutics and Drug Product Evaluation lamented that aside from the money lost through rejection, it also dented the country’s reputation in the global market.

On how the rejected agro-commodities were exported in the first place without thorough inspection by regulatory organisations such as NAFDAC, Adeyeye explained that many exporters boycott regulatory procedures and that all the food products rejected abroad never went through the scrutiny of both NAFDAC and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS).

“So, the people that are exporting are either taking shortcuts or they’re being deceived that their products are okay, just ship it, we will take care of it,” she said.

The NAFDAC director-general also blamed the lack of adequate storage facilities for the spoilage of many agro-commodities before reaching their destinations abroad.

According to her, the products don’t usually encounter spoilage issues within the country but develop moulds before or during shipments due to inadequate storage facilities or poor storage procedures.

On measures NAFDAC has taken to improve food exports, Adeyeye explained that the organisation has amplified sensitization on the need for exporters to ensure that their commodities are duly tested by the regulator before export.

She enjoined all commodity exporters to visit the agency in order to get their products certified before exporting, adding that there are no fees attached to the procedure.

“I am pleading to the whole country, exporters, and MSMEs who want to export to please come to NAFDAC to make sure your products have quality. If it doesn’t, we will advise you on what to do and we won’t get a penny for all these,” she said.

Adeyeye further disclosed that NAFDAC is working with all the relevant agencies in the industry such as the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Customs, National Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and the shippers’ council in this regard.

Agricultural products such as cowpea, melon seeds, sesame seeds, yam, groundnut have at one point or another been banned by the European Union and placed under tight scrutiny by the EU over poor quality standards. This is in addition to claims that the excessive use of pesticides and preservatives constitutes danger to human health.

Vincent Isegbe, director general of NAQS, stated that Nigeria has lost an estimated $362.5 million annually in terms of foreign exchange to the ban on exportation of dried beans in the last eight years.

Isegbe noted that quality standard, certification and appropriate packaging for made-in-Nigeria products for export have been recurring issues affecting exportation. He also identified adulteration as another issue in product acceptability, noting that some of the items are smuggled in mostly between certification and the point of exit.

“This is why we are discussing with those handling cargoes on the need to ensure that people do not conceal things in their consignment after it has been certified. Because in international trade, food is not just food, it is food when it is properly labelled and packaged,” he said.

Bamidele Ayemibo, lead consultant, 3T Impex Trade Academy and former chairman, Export Group, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), pointed out that the recurring rejection of Nigeria’s agro-exports is a reflection of a poor knowledge of international trading by agriculture stakeholders.

Ayemibo noted that anyone in the agricultural sector must be well trained and educated in trading especially when it concerns the global market, stressing the need for the government to ensure the management staff of any intending export business undergo rigorous trade training/education before they get export licences.

Another challenge hindering Nigeria’s export performance, according to Ayemibo, is the failure of the country to enhance infrastructural development and invest in agricultural mechanisation to tackle post-harvest losses, resulting in the spoilage of agricultural commodities worth millions in monetary value and dwindling the export quality and quantities of the commodities.

The trade expert called for these challenges to be addressed promptly to propel Nigeria’s agricultural might in the global market.

On his part, Michael Omodara, principal research officer, Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Ilorin, said challenges such as poor packaging and insufficient information on export requirements have hindered efficient processing and supply of agro-commodities.

Omodara harped on the efficient implementation of international food standards, codes of practice, guidelines and recommendations developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) to ensure fair practices and acceptance in the global food trade.

He also recommended urgent development of the country’s supply chain mechanism and transport system through the establishment of commodity routes that link states and have minimal interference. This, he explained, would drastically result in an improvement in the agro-export sector.

In a bid to address the persistent rejection, Niyi Adebayo, minister of industry, trade and investment, set up a technical committee in May 2022 to carry out an in-depth investigation and report into the causes of rejection of Nigeria’s agro produce in the global market.

In a recent presentation of the committee’s report to the minister in Abuja, Suleiman Audu, director, commodities and export department of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), who headed the committee, identified technical barriers, food safety, non-adherence to best practices, and disregard for basic requirements as factors largely responsible for the rejection that agro-exports from Nigeria face abroad.

The committee, in its recommendations to reverse the worrisome trend, advised the ministry to collaborate with the private sector in organising sensitisation and awareness campaigns including jingles and offline promotional campaigns in major Nigerian languages to enlighten stakeholders in the agricultural value chain on the need to secure and adopt Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certifications.

In addition to this, the committee urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and its trade counterpart to provide a dedicated budget to fund the Global GAP training, traceability, and certification for farmers to enable their products to qualify for exports under the federal government initiative. The ministries were also advised to collaborate with research institutes to promote Research and Development (R&D) activities for the improvement of produce, products, packaging and labelling requirements.

The experts also called on the agriculture ministry and the private sector to collaborate with Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing Insurance and Agricultural Liabilities (NIRSAL) SAT-C programme to support logistics hubs and develop transportation and aggregation facilities in order to reduce overhead costs and create momentum for trade.

Other recommendations highlighted by the committee included that the private sector should be enabled by the federal government to develop QR Code Traceability Cards for the registration of all the operators and their agricultural commodities in order to enhance transparency, traceability and engender visibility and acceptability for exportable agro commodities, and that all relevant regulatory authorities in the agro-export value chain should commence the process of automating their processes and procedures, synchronize them with the APUs in order to curb infractions and ensure that only quality and certified products are exported.

“It is our belief that the implementation of these recommendations will no doubt go a long way in resolving the issues bedevilling our agro-exports at the international market,” the committee chairman noted.

In his response, the minister of trade commended the members of the committee for the time and efforts invested to complete the assignment. He expressed confidence that the implementation of the committee’s recommendations would increase agricultural commodities export activities and foreign exchange earnings for the country.

In this regard, he called for a synergy between relevant ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) and the private sector on the mission.