Why Nigeria’s agro products are rejected abroad –experts
By Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo
From authorities in the cargo and airline businesses came a damning explanation of why Nigeria’s agro exports are being rejected.
The experts fingered the forwarding of raw, largely unpreserved produce abroad without any value addition as being among a plethora of reasons for the sad development.
The issue was thrown up at the ongoing two-day Chinet Aviacargo Annual Conference which kicked off in Lagos yesterday.
The conference was created to develop a road map to drive export and turn the country into a cargo hub.
This year’s edition, the third in the series, seeks to focus on unlocking logistics barriers to improving agro product exports -the conference theme.
Various speakers spoke extensively on the issue.
Director of Operations, Omni Blu, a firm that manages and operates privately-owned aircraft in the country, Captain Kenneth Wemambu, said the rejection of Nigeria’s agro products by the international community is due to a myriad of reasons, but not limited to traceability issues, compliance issues, certification issues, and others.
According to him, 90 per cent of what is sent out are raw products without added value or breakdown of such agro products.
Captain Wemambu, who spoke on the international community rejecting goods, said certain posers were relevant in understanding why produce from Nigeria were being rejected outside our shores.
He asked: ”Why are they rejecting our produce? What countries do we ship to? Asia? Europe? Some states in the United States? ”
Wemambu added: ”What we ship out 90 per cent are raw stages. This is not sustainable. When they are processed, you have it better. We shouldn’t be exporting raw products; we should break down our agro-product and add some value.”
He also said it does not amount to discrimination when goods are rejected.
“It is not discrimination; we have not complied. If we have good produce to export, will the EU not buy it? It means we have to clean up our produce back home. There must be product traceability, you must have the information of your product: where it comes from, where it is registered. What was the process? You must have the information, or nobody will take your products,” he stated.
Wemambo equally decried that the government hardly deals with small-holder farms, stating that these farmers should have access to funds.
”How are you (Government) helping small-holder farmers who consist of 90% of farmers in Nigeria who have between 20-30 hectares, to get accessible loans? Which farm will take a loan with the current interest rate and is asked to begin payment in the next month?”, he queried.
Also, speaking on the ‘Role of Logistics in Enhancing Seamless Cargo Export’ at the event, Managing Director (MD), JOHDIC Resources Limited, John Ekeanya, referred to a survey conducted by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), saying the survey indicated that the Nigerian economy lost an estimated annual revenue $8.1billion (N3.46 trillion) due to poor infrastructure, poor implementation, and corruption at the ports.
Ekeanya also highlighted the impediments affecting effective logistics in Nigeria to include insecurity/banditry, infrastructural deficit, multi – taxation /high tariff, poor government policies on trade / export, poor incentives for exporters, inconsistent availability of farm produce/other exportable goods, poor storage facilities such as silos, cold rooms, and so on as well as poor trade agreements.
On solutions, he proposed that the menace of insecurity and banditry be addressed to secure farms for farmers as well as improvements to the railway system.
According to him, equipping special-purpose cargo airports all over the country with appropriate storage facilities and processing, building silos, warehouses for agro products and manufactured goods, will help to solve the problems.
Earlier, Convener of the Chinet AviaCargo, Ambassador Ikechi Uko, in his opening speech, said Nigeria has the money and resources but needs to get things right.
His words: “Today marks another day of knowledge-sharing along the Aviacargo Value Chain. We have many experts in Nigeria. We have money in Nigeria. We have resources in Nigeria, but we have not been able to get many things right. What has been missing is the willpower and resolve to bring together these variables into a workable mix.
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“Chinet, in the past two years, has succeeded in bringing together materials to help grow the economy.
“We have broken the silos and have brought together strange bedfellows. We have strung together a patchwork of important Government Agencies and private sector experts to develop a roadmap for Aviacargo growth in Nigeria. We have created a community for the growth of Aviacargo in Nigeria. People are reaching out of their comfort zones to engage successfully.”
