Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organisation, declared on Tuesday that Nigeria had given up its top spot in the export market for agricultural products.
This was revealed by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Abuja during the opening of seven trade support programmes started by the WTO-ITC to advance the growth of Nigeria’s trade and industrial standards.
She added that the country has become a net importer of farm product that was previously grown domestically, undermining attempts to ensure food sustainability, despite the plenty of land and increased investments.
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She said, “We are launching today with STDF, ITC, and the NEPC, a project to help with international safety and quality certification for sesame and cowpeas or black-eyed peas.
“The agriculture sector in Nigeria has the potential to be a major driver of export diversification and job creation – but too much of this potential remains unrealized due to a variety of barriers.
“In fact, Nigeria has not only lost out in agricultural export markets, it is a net food importer, spending about billions a year on goods, many of which we can also produce here.
“Some of Nigeria’s unrealized potential has to do with trade-related problems on the supply side – and that is what this project is seeking to rectify.”
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She went on to say that because Nigerian exports of sesame and cowpeas are not meeting international standards for standard processing standards, they are progressively being turned down by a number of destination markets.
According to her, export rejections have cost the company sales, income, and hard currency since sanitary and phytosanitary criteria in import countries, the region, and the world have not been met.
She said, “Nigeria is the world’s largest producer and consumer of cowpeas. Sesame is primarily an export crop, and Nigeria is the world’s fourth leading producer, exporting to the EU, Türkiye, Japan, South Korea and other Asian markets. However, Nigerian cowpea and sesame exports have increasingly faced rejections in several destination markets due to non-compliance with international SPS requirements.
“Nigeria accounts for over a third of Japan’s sesame imports – but health and safety inspections during the past few years have found instances where pesticide residue levels were nearly double the maximum residue limits permissible from 2019 to 2021.”
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Okonjo-Iweala stated that the WTO is working with pertinent parties to strengthen stakeholder capacities throughout the value chains of cowpeas and sesame in order to better understand the needs for market access in order to address the problems.
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