FG Urged to Reduce Usage of Highly Toxic Pesticides Among Farmers by 50%

Agriculture stakeholders have appealed to the Federal Government to develop a safe sustainable food production strategy that will reduce usage of highly toxic synthetic chemical pesticides by 50 per cent by 2030. This was stated at a 2-day National Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on the 2023 Agriculture Budget in Lagos, on Tuesday. The stakeholders called for policies and legislation that will ensure that most toxic pesticides were prohibited and phased out of the Nigerian market. They said, “To achieve this, the government needs to develop a safe sustainable food strategy that reduces the use of highly toxic synthetic chemical pesticides by 50 per cent by 2030; 25 per cent by 2040, a maximum of 5 per cent by 2050 and strong support to be given to farmers in their transition towards agro-ecology.” On his part, the Executive Director of the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), Professor Emmanuel Ikani, advised state governments to develop their own agriculture investment plan, saying it will enable efforts at the state and local government levels to be recognised in the overall determination of the country’s commitment to the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and enable accurate data for the Biennial Review Reporting. Ikani, further, observed that late release of funds to relevant agencies in the agriculture value chain has continued to limit the capacity of federal and state governments to drive socio-economic development, including food and nutrition security, within the policy thrust of diversification of the economy towards agriculture. Also, the Chairman Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Sen. Bima Muhammad Enagi, noted that Nigeria’s food import bills were increasing every year, saying huge amount of money goes to food importation at the expense of post-harvest losses estimated at N3. 5 trillion annually in the country. According to him, despite efforts at providing an enabling environment for more public/private partnerships in Nigeria’s agriculture sector, smallholder women farmers’ access to government interventions across the country remained below 27 per cent.