A Civil Society Organisation, CSO, has called on the Nigerian government to enact laws to caution against the importation of pesticides to avoid the increase in food insecurity.
The Lead Coordinator, Alliance for Action on Pesticide in Nigeria, AAPN/Programme Manager Heinrich Boell Stiftung Nigeria, Donald Ikenna made the call during a media parley on the CSO Review of the NAFDAC pesticide Registration Regulation, 2021 and Gaps in pesticide legislation in Nigeria.
Ikenna said “It is no longer news that pesticide is a major public health and environmental threat in Nigeria and the world at large.
“Every year, over 385 million people are killed as a result of pesticide food they eat; unfortunately most of these deaths are happening in Africa, Nigeria, and the global south. Nigeria does not have any data as regards the number of people that are infected or that die as a result of pesticide-related deaths. The only figures we report are what we get in the media. We know the most popular case is the case we have where about 270 people died in Benue state as a result of Endosulfan (classified as a Highly Hazardous pesticide active ingredient) in the community where they fish, get water for bathing and drinking and over 270 people died in the communities river.”
Ikenna said; “more than 90% of Nigerian farmers do not know the chemical they apply on their farms, and consumers do not know the chemical in their food.
“Most farmers do not read product labels on pesticide products (not necessarily, because they cannot read), they are not aware of the various hazards associated with the pesticide’s active ingredient, because the health hazards are not disclosed in any way. Most farmers cannot apply the pesticides safely in the right calibration. This leaves a lot of pesticide residues in the soil, on surface water, in the crops and invariably human body over 80% of the farmers and their communities do not use personal protective equipment (PPEs), mainly because they are not sold in the many agrochemical stores or their distributors.”
Ikenna explained that the vast majority of farming communities and villages across the counties do not have functional hospitals and pharmacies, but have several unregistered and untrained agrochemical stalls.
The Co-Founder and Leader of AAPN/President Yam Farmers Association of Nigeria, Professor Simon Irtwange said Food Security became a very big issue and it became clear that there was no way farmers could sustain food production at the level they were producing at the time.
He said; “You can imagine somebody who has been using one hectare is now producing on five hectares, how do you expect him to use the communist systems we were using in those days, I remember in my community, women will come together they will go to Mr. A farm and do the weeding, and then the next day they move to the next farm. So there was no need for pesticides and that’s how they were on the commoner efforts, taking care of the weed problems.”
Professor Irtwange explained that agrochemicals came to the rescue when farmers started moving from one hectare to five hectares and the labour that is needed on the farm is no longer available.
“We need to regulate this space; we need to do something urgently, pesticides that are banned in Europe are still being used in Nigeria because there is no law regulating the importation and use of these pesticides in our country, ”he said.
The President of the Yam Farmers Association of Nigeria said there should be a bill that should deal with issues of deregistered products, banned pesticides and the people that bring them into the country.
“We want a bill that allows individuals to take manufacturers of these pesticides to court and claim damages. If we use your pesticide and as a result of it, I get cancer as you get a legal remedy as they do in America and other countries,” he added.
A senior Programme Manager of ERA/Friends of the Earth and a member of AAPN, Mariamme Bassey explained that increasingly in Nigeria, people are becoming very sick, the rates of cancers are too high and more people are having cancer including young people and children.
She said; “Can we just really reflect that something has been done to our food?
“We should not allow the food we eat, to eat us, because of the chemicals in our food.
“How can people who produce pesticides be on the committee that should regulate them? It is not right and a conflict of interest; it should be people over profits, Nigeria people should be at the forefront, and our government should think about our people and not just about making money.”
The Alliance for Action on Pesticide in Nigeria (AAPN) and other stakeholders made the following recommendations;
- The National Assembly should not consider any of the pesticide-related bills presented by the Farm Input Support Service (FISS) Department of FMARD, as they lack transparency, accountability, openness, and zero public participation. The bills are not in the interest of Nigerians. Both bills are surrendering Nigeria’s food sector to foreign control. Hence, there is a need to investigate the promoters of the Bill, as it can also be traced to treason.
- Sections of the Repeal and Reenact Bill dealing with Pesticides should be expunged and put together into a separate Bill for the creation of a Pesticide Council for Nigeria following the Kenya example.
- NAFDAC should be divested of Pesticide duties completely in favour of a Pesticide Council. This should apply to all other MDAs dealing with Pesticide issues.
- . The 2023 Bill should be put together by CSOs like AAPN and other consumer rights groups and experts in the food safety issues in Nigeria and presented to the National Assembly and office of the Presidency.
The Alliance for Action on Pesticide in Nigeria (AAPN) is a loose coalition of over 80 civil society organizations, farmers and farm input dealers associations, academia, researchers, and interested members of the public. The Alliance seeks to increase public awareness of pesticide issues for informed pesticide choice, and usage and shift to safer sustainable farm methods and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems/methods. The alliance also seeks to ensure improved pesticide regulations in Nigeria; protect both human and environmental health, guard Nigeria’s food security, improve food sustainability.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
