An agriculture expert, Prof. Victor Olowe, has called for traceability of local agro-produce to ensure global acceptance when exported.
Olowe, President of the Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
He reiterated that for Nigerian grown agro-produce to be accepted in international markets, its source must be traceable.
According to Olowe, if the local farmers adhere to international best practices in the cultivation of crops; Nigeria’s agro-produce exports will be accepted globally.
“As a body, we oversee all agricultural related activities in the country. We have both individuals and corporate bodies as members.
“In organic agriculture we are highly regulated and there are norms we follow, we do a lot of documentations so we will be able to trace the crops to their sources.
“In organic farming the traceability must be there, we must be able to trace the crops in case of any eventualities.
“The traceability of our crops will be able to aid and quicken the acceptance of locally grown crops for export across the world,” the expert said.
Olowe affirmed that Nigeria was almost at the point of getting her agro-produce certified for export but the process is still ongoing.
He noted that partnership with the relevant bodies was in place to certify Nigerian farmers to export their agro-produce globally.
“We try to certify our organic farmers using the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). Farmers in clusters agree on set standards for cultivation and they can check themselves in terms of compliance.
“We go from farm A to Farm B to Farm C to see if the farmers are operating within the set regulations and standards.
“However, if our produce must go outside the shores of this country, we need third party certification.
“The external off-taker must agree that the farmer has followed the agreed standards for cultivation of the crops before it is exported.
“A lot of documentation must also be done within Nigeria before the crops can go outside the country.
“We are almost at the point of certifying Nigerian-grown agro-produce; we have a company called NICERT (Nigeria Ecocert Company) now in partnership with French-based Company- ECOCERT.
“This is towards getting farmers certified so that their products can be accepted outside Nigeria,” Olowe said. (NAN)
