Agro-Chemical Industry Urges FG To Tackle Multiple Regulations

Agro-Chemical Industry: Stakeholders in the agro-chemical industry have called on the Federal Government to immediately address the issue of multiple regulations in the industry, so as not to plunge the country into food crisis.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos, Mahmood Tauhid, President, Croplife Nigeria stated that due to multiple regulations the agro chemical industry is losing billions of Naira, stressing that the Federal Government’s determination to tackle food insecurity, which has started yielding results, may not be sustained due to multiple problems facing the agricultural sector.

“We are calling on the Federal Government to urgently tackle this challenge as these multiple levies would lead to high cost of food and may plunge the country into food crisis. We feel we have the responsibility to draw the attention of government and major stakeholders in the agricultural industry in Nigeria to the major challenges affecting food production and ultimately food security.”

He said that the situation started about two years ago, adding that its members are subjected to strenuous registration process, as well as, heavy payment to get licence and other documentations.

“Our industry, which is critical in the food production process, is regulated by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). We are subjected to strenuous registration process and we pay heavily to register products before we are licensed to market these products.

“Later other agencies like the National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement Agency, which is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Environment, and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, just appeared, both of them claiming to regulate our products.

“It is unfortunate that by the time we finish a process, another agency shows up. As critical as agriculture is in the food processing sector, all these levies lead to high prices of food. So we are calling on the Federal Government to intervene and address this issue”

Dr. Abdullahi Ndarubu, General Secretary stated that now that more youth and women are gradually returning to the sector, if the constraint is not addressed, the potential of getting a reasonable population of this category of Nigerians might be destroyed.

He added that Croplife’s business is worth $600m yearly, stressing that multiple regulations have resulted in the industry recording more than 30 per cent losses yearly.

Ndarubu also said that despite the economic downturn in the country in the last two to three years, the group has been able to achieve some efforts in production.