YAM EXPORTATION POSSIBLE IN NIGERIA- NAQS BOSS
Following the recent move by the Federal Government
to begin the exportation of yam by the end of this month, many questions have
been raised on modalities for the export. In this interview, Dr Vincent Isegbe,
the Coordinating Director, National Agriculture Quarantine Services (NAQS),
spoke with newsmen on plans to make the export business a reality.
WHAT ARE THE MANDATES OF NATIONAL
AGRICULTURE QUARANTINE SERVICES?
The
mandate of quarantine services are in two folds, one is to prevent the
introduction, the spread and the establishment of any exotic disease or pests
of animals, plants, aquatic resources or their products from coming in or going
out of Nigeria.
The
second mandate is to facilitate international trade, that is to say by the
action of the first mandate to enable us facilitate international trade because
at the end of the day whatever we are producing is of essence that we add value
to it and export, we earn foreign exchange, we create job opportunities for the
farmers and all the critical stakeholders on the value chain, we engage the
youths in doing something for themselves.
WHAT IS THE QUARANTINE SERVICE DOING TO
ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF REJECTION OF NIGERIA AGRICULTURE PRODUCTS IN THE EUROPEAN
MARKET?
It
is the duty of the quarantine by the international Plan Protection Convention,
which Nigeria is a signatory to, to be the only agency of the government that
will issue the phyto-sanitary certificate, no other organ or agency of government
issues phyto-sanitary for the export or import of plants and plant products
into the country, and it is not just Nigeria alone, every other quarantine
service in those respective countries do the same thing.
It
is our duty therefore to ensure that those exports or import of plants and
plant products and inspected, certified by quarantine, then the relevant export
and import permit issued as the case may be.
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