The federal government of Nigeria has rehashed its allegiance to curtailing the escalating spread of fake agricultural inputs in the country, as it has continued to erode farmers’ profit and adversely impact their ability to boost production.
In a sensitisation program held recently at Sabon Gari Market, Kano, Abba Gana Danmani, the coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in Kano, said that the federal government had commenced the registration of all agrochemical & fertiliser dealers to ensure that farmers and other inputs end users buy fertilisers and agrochemicals from reputable and accredited dealers not only for safety but quality assurance.
The program was organised by the Farm Inputs Support Services Department (FISSD) of the Ministry in an effort to restate its commitment to ensuring the availability of adequate high-quality fertilizers and Agro inputs to Nigerian farmers, increasing agricultural production, food, and cash crop self-sufficiency, as well as increasing farmer’s income.
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Mohammed Sani Kwaido, the FISSD director said: “The department was created with the vision for timely provision of good quality agricultural inputs to farmers in the most cost-effective manner”.
According to Kwaido, the department has collaborated with various international NGOs and stakeholders like Crop life & Agro Input Dealers Association, to harmonise drafted Pesticide Bill with already existing Fertiliser Act, adding that the harmony was set to regulate the manufacture, importation, distribution, sales, and quality of fertilisers and plant pesticides.
It was also put in place to ensure that agricultural inputs in Nigeria were undergoing legislature processes at the National Assembly.
Farmers have also complained in the past about purchasing several seeds labelled as hybrid from the market only to later discover that they are fake.
The director, therefore, urged participants to be careful and watch out for adulterated fertilisers and agrochemicals which are harmful to plants and endanger human lives.
In his welcome address, Abbas Kashmi Bashir, head, Agrochemical and Quality Control Division, FISS Department, noted that some agrochemical plant pesticides had been banned in Europe and other developed Nations but sold in African markets, particularly in Nigeria.
According to him, “it contributes among other factors in the rejection of our food exports. The chemicals include; Chloropyrifos, Blocade, Certilain, Oleorel, Pyrinex, Reldan 22, and Neonicotinoid’’.
In attendance at the workshop were smallholders farmers, agro-chemical dealers, and marketers, among others.
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