The Federal Government has initiated comprehensive plans to halt the recurring international rejection of Nigerian agricultural exports due to non-compliance with biochemical and safety limits.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, inaugurated a highly specialised Technical Working Group (TWG) on Agricultural Produce Residue Standards during a high-level assembly in Abuja.
The cross-sectoral task force is charged with reversing a damaging multi-year trend where Nigerian food shipments were repeatedly turned away at foreign borders for exceeding permissible Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) and violating international sanitary and phytosanitary guidelines.
Minister Abdullahi noted that these recurring trade restrictions have caused massive economic losses, damaged regional market confidence, and severely eroded premium off-taker opportunities for local farmers, exporters, and logistics firms.
The group’s mission aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which dictates that national yields must match strict global safety benchmarks alongside raw production volumes.
The technical working group serves as a unified regulatory platform bringing together elite food scientists, private sector commodity dealers, agricultural research directors, and development partners. Earlier during the session, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, represented by the Director of the Federal Department of Agriculture, Mr Bukar Musa, warned that the continuous misuse of chemical pesticides on local farms directly threatens Nigeria’s export aspirations and rural development.
The ministry emphasised that a coordinated, science-based intervention is non-negotiable to restore foreign market access.
Responding on behalf of the panel, the newly appointed Chairman of the TWG, Professor Lateef Sanni, stated that the inauguration represents a massive stride forward for Nigeria’s agricultural quality assurance infrastructure.
Professor Sanni, who also serves as the Executive Director of the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), explained that the group’s immediate operational mandate includes conducting an exhaustive review of current farming guidelines, harmonising national pesticide enforcement standards with international benchmarks, and rapidly upgrading domestic laboratory capacity to ensure strict compliance monitoring before asset shipping.
Source: The Sun News
