June 29: Failure looms over late release of conditions for yam exports by NAQS
Fears of continued rejection of Nigeria’s agro products in Europe and Americas have reechoed following the late release of conditions for yam exports to the U.S and UK by the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS).
Business Hilights recalls that several Nigerian food stuffs had been on banned list in Europe due to poor packaging and pesticides usage, but the late release of the terms and conditions just less than one month to resumption may frustrate chances of meeting international standards.
the Coordinating Director of NAQS, Dr. Vincent Isegbe, who spoke to Business Hilights in Abuja, on Thursday, said the conditions were drawn up, following the consistent rejection of the country’s agricultural produce at the international market.
It would recalled that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had on June 9 disclosed that the country might commence exportation of yams by the end of June, but he never revealed that even the export coordinating agency, the NAQS was not carried along.
Though the minister made the pronouncement through his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, Isegbe, however, said that NAQS would conduct thorough certification of the yams before they were exported to avoid another set of embarrassment.
It would be also recalled that the European Commission (EC) is yet to delist Nigerian agro products from the list of banned items entering the Commission due to high level insecticides content.
Accordingly, Isegbe warned potential yam exporters to adhere strictly to the NAQS conditions so as to avoid the rejection of their produce at the point of export.
He said “We will painstakingly inspect each tuber of yam to ensure that the tubers meet the requirements before we certify them and issue the phytosanitary certification for their export.
“The yam should be of uniform size and should not have a growth on its head; the head should also be cut off and waxed with candle to prevent infection.
“The yam should not have any nematode infection; it should be of uniform species and put in the carton in a particular way; it should be properly labelled and weighed.
“If it is going to a particular country, the import conditions of that country on yam will be stated.
“If it is going to be fumigated, the chemical for fumigation will be stated; so we will comply with the request of the importing country to ensure that those things are put in place.
“As the farmers are preparing their farms, we want to know the location of their farms so that we can trace each tuber to a particular farm; that is one of the conditions,’’ he said.
NAQS bossed added that Nigeria’s agro-commodities export potential was distorted for several decades as a result of poor quality control.
