Farming pesticide: Nigeria faces health, trade problems

Nigeria is facing threats following a report last month that about 40 per cent of the pesticides used in the country are highly toxic and have been banned in other countries.  This raises a food safety concern as the country also continues to face export rejection as a result of excessive application of chemicals, most […]

Nigeria is facing threats following a report last month that about 40 per cent of the pesticides used in the country are highly toxic and have been banned in other countries. 

This raises a food safety concern as the country also continues to face export rejection as a result of excessive application of chemicals, most of which are said to be fake and adulterated.

A report on highly hazardous pesticides in Nigeria by the Sustainable Environment Development Initiative (SEDI), supported by the International Pollutant Elimination Network (IPEN), showed a “significant increase in the import and use of HHPs since 2009, with high cost and negative effects on human health and the environment that resulted because of unsound chemical management.”

The report listed a number of toxic pesticides banned in other countries but in use in Nigeria to include Atrazine, 2,4-D, Aldicarb, Propanil, Dichlorvos, Dicofol, Nitrofen, Carbofuran, Diquat, Brodifacoum, Diuron, Ethion, among others.

The report stated, “In 2018, the total pesticides imported were 147,446 tonnes, worth $383,628,018, out of which highly hazardous ones consisted of 584 tonnes, worth $2,593,201 [26]. Insecticides, excluding highly hazardous pesticides, were 19,424 tonnes, with a value of $58,748,425.

“Fungicides, excluding highly hazardous ones, were 2561 tonnes, with a value of $13,516,054 USD. Total imports of pesticides and highly hazardous pesticides indicate an increase in imports.’’

Herbicides imported, excluding highly hazardous ones, were 123,722 tonnes, worth $305,825,907.

“This shows that herbicides are the most widely used class of pesticides in Nigeria,” part of the report reads.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar, speaking on pesticides usage in Nigeria, said it was a major challenge in plant’s health.

 The use of sniper and other lethal chemicals to store food products is dangerous and deadly, he said.

 “Incorrect, inappropriate and abusive application of pesticides and herbicides can imperil human and animal health and the environment. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) categorizes these plant contaminants and pests as impediments to trade.

“To mainstream safe and responsible pesticide use in the country, the NAQS has produced the national pesticide policy, a requirement of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), which will soon be gazetted by the Ministry of Agriculture,” he added.

He said the federal government had promised to continue to ensure that the risk assessment activity is directed at priority pests and pathways and guided by cutting-edge science.

Dr Vincent Isegbe, the Director-General, Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), also explained that these toxic pesticides and herbicides were creating more problems for the country’s drive to take the chunk of the global market share.

He agreed that there had to be a system which ensures that only accredited pesticide sellers sell to farmers. But farmers too are encouraged to form cooperative groups and be able to buy these chemicals in bulk from accredited dealers, so that they can be sure of the quality of the products they buy.

“If you go to the farm gate you would see people on motorcycles selling non-descript chemicals, that is chemicals that have no label, no expiring date, no country of manufacture. Some of them do not have names; you only find them in aluminum containers that are not good. 

“I will encourage farmers not to patronise them because it is those individuals that add up at the end of the day to cause high level of pesticides in our produce,” Dr Isegbe said.

On his part, Professor Damician Asawalam, the vice president of the Soil Science Society of Nigeria, said most of these hazardous chemicals and improper use of herbicides specifically created huge problems for the soil.

For him, those chemicals, especially the ones that are adulterated, contribute to many soil problems. He noted that when we apply those things that have no standard, you can’t determine what is inside it, and that is the problem with substandard and adulterated chemicals.

Prof Asawalam said it was the human action that is doing the harm, not the normal natural processes, adding, “Sometimes when we, as human beings, begin to put in too much chemicals inside our soil, of course, the effect will not be positive.”

Dr Shola Talomola, a medical practitioner, also cautioned on indiscriminate use of chemicals, adding that long exposure to such things could cause cancer in the long run.

He said often some of the farmers spraying the chemicals don’t use protective garments, and it can be dangerous to their health.

The SEDI report is also an indictment on the country’s regulatory agencies like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), with the responsibility to regulate, certify, detect, confiscate and destroy, as well as prosecute offenders.

For 40 per cent of the toxic chemicals to be in circulation, many pundits believe its cumulative effect could plunge the country into a major health disaster.

When our correspondent asked the director-general of the NAFDAC, Prof Moji Adeyeye, she said the organisation was in the process of banning the HHPs that have been banned in Europe but still used in the country.

“It is a very good question. We are in the process of banning them. These are inherited perspectives in terms of allowing some products that have been banned in other countries in the country. But we are banning some of these chemicals. We did it in the past and we are going to do it again,” she said.

But for many, this is taking too long to handle, in view of the complication and cost to the health of the country.

Experts said an agency like the NAFDAC should strengthen its capacity and establish presence in all the 774 local government areas to track dealers of these chemicals.

“Some of them are adulterated, but nobody checks these guys. And they are just enjoying the huge market at the expense of millions of Nigerians,” an expert in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development who would not want to be mentioned said.

Experts believe that this is a national emergency that needs urgent action to save the health and agro-economy of the country.