Nigerian peasant farmers spend $400 million annually on purchase of pesticide

By Rowland ‘Shuwa, ILORIN/

The Executive Director of the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Ilorin, Professor Olufemi Peters has disclosed that farmers in the country spend an estimated $400 million every year on purchase of pesticide to store their produce.

Speaking at a two-day training workshop on use of inert atmosphere silos for grains storage among selected grain handlers held at the Institute, Professor Peters said despite this huge amount been expended on pesticide its improper use also cause illness among millions of people in the country.

According to him, “Grains that we consume to be safe have become hazardous to health of the populace due to pesticide misapplication. Furthermore, Nigerian grains have suffered a rejection at the international markets due to high pesticide residue in our grains and this has subsequently affected our foreign exchange and integrity in food safety negatively. “

He also lamented that, “Stored grains in sub Saharan Africa often suffer from 40 per cent to 100 per cent losses due to insect damage if untreated with chemicals and pesticides. In order to reduce these losses, grain handlers have fallen into indiscriminate use of chemical to safe guard their investment without considering the hazards being posed to them and the consumers as well.

“Pesticide application has posed a great threat to grain safety in the region and the profit gained by using pesticide to protect the grains is negated when considering the associated health toll”, he said.

The NSPRI boss however, said that introduction of inert atmosphere storage structure is capable of solving the problems associated with farmers’ annual loss, adding that it had been tested and proven over the decades by the institute.

“This technology has been effectively used for storage of maize, sorghum, paddy rice and wheat in Nitrogen for a period ranging from 24-48 months. The high point of this technology is its ability to store cowpea for 36 months which cannot be stored the conventional silos. This technology is gradually being adopted by universities, international grain market and some private individuals “, he said.

Professor Peters, who expressed optimism that adoption rate of the safe technology would be improved after the end of the workshop said that grains are staple food consumed by almost everyone in sub Saharan Africa on a daily basis.

Also speaking, the Kwara state commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hon. Bamidele Adegoke who was represented by the deputy director, Produce, Mallam Garba Abdulkadir hailed NSPRI for its research-based activities.

“I have no doubt in my mind that this workshop is timely because of its purposefulness as to further strengthen our knowledge and culture of storage of agricultural produce through the use of appropriate technologies.

“Using inert atmosphere silos for grains storage without the use of synthetic chemicals is a wonderful innovative that goes a long way in promoting food security and export capacity of the country”, he said.