Nigeria Overhauls Agricultural Quarantine System to Reduce Export Rejections

News in Brief:

—Nigeria has launched reforms to strengthen its agricultural quarantine system, aiming to reduce export rejections, improve biosecurity, and boost non-oil export earnings.

—The initiative is part of broader government efforts to improve export standards, expand local value addition, and increase farmers' access to international markets.

Nigeria has launched a major overhaul of its agricultural quarantine system as part of renewed efforts to reduce the rejection of its farm exports in international markets, strengthen biosecurity, and expand non-oil export earnings.

The Federal Government inaugurated a committee to coordinate reforms to align the country's agricultural quarantine processes with global sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards. This move is expected to improve competitiveness in regional and international agricultural trade.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, represented by the ministry's Permanent Secretary, Dr Deborah Odoh, said Nigeria could no longer afford the economic losses resulting from the rejection of agricultural exports due to non-compliance with international requirements.

According to him, the committee will remove regulatory bottlenecks, harmonise quarantine procedures across government agencies, and build a more efficient system to protect Nigeria's agricultural resources while improving market access for exporters.

Bagudu claims that the reforms would strengthen the country's biosecurity framework, increase non-oil export earnings, raise farmers' incomes, and support sustainable economic growth.

New Committee to Coordinate Export Reforms

The newly inaugurated committee brings together representatives from key institutions, including the Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Food Security, Finance, Industry, Trade and Investment, Budget Office of the Federation, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian National Accreditation System, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), freight forwarding associations, and other stakeholders.

Comptroller-General of NAQS, Dr Vincent Isegbe, described the agency as Nigeria's first line of defence against the spread of plant, animal, and aquatic pests and diseases.

He explained that the agency conducts pest risk analysis, inspections, surveillance, and certification to ensure agricultural products entering and leaving Nigeria comply with internationally accepted standards.

According to Isegbe, strengthening the quarantine system will significantly reduce export rejections, improve foreign exchange earnings, and reinforce Nigeria's reputation as a reliable supplier of safe agricultural products.

He added that achieving the objective would require stronger collaboration among agencies responsible for agriculture, customs, finance, transportation, laboratory accreditation, research, and border security.

Part of Wider Push to Boost Agricultural Exports

The latest initiative adds to the Federal Government's broader strategy to expand agricultural exports and earn more foreign exchange from the sector.

In recent months, the government has intensified efforts to encourage value addition rather than relying on exports of raw commodities. While reports of a ban on raw cocoa bean exports were later clarified, authorities have consistently stated that the focus is to create an enabling environment for domestic processing, attract investment into agro-processing, create jobs, and increase export earnings from higher-value products.

The government has also maintained restrictions on raw shea nut exports to encourage local processing after trade data showed exports of crude shea oil rising significantly following the policy. Similar discussions are ongoing around boosting domestic processing in the cashew industry.

Alongside these policies, Nigeria has invested in export infrastructure, including the commissioning of the Gateway International Agro-Cargo Airport in Ogun State to improve the movement of perishable agricultural products to international markets.

Officials believe that improving quarantine standards, strengthening processing capacity, and expanding export logistics will help Nigerian agricultural products meet global quality requirements, reduce costly export rejections, and position the country as a more competitive supplier in international markets.