By Ebere Agozie
The Alliance for Action on Pesticides in Nigeria (AAPN) has called for accountability in the importation, production and distribution of highly toxic pesticides to farmers across Nigeria.
It disclosed this during a News conference in Abuja on Thursday with the Theme `Stop the Spread of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs)’.
The alliance also urged that legislators and philanthropists must move from unchecked benevolence to responsible, transparent, and answerable support.
It said that legislators should stop giving their constituency, communities, farmers, pregnant women and babies, highly toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers without educating them on the associated dangers.
“They all have health implications, cause damage on our soil, water and sustained incomes over time due to the depleting ecosystem’’.
AAPN recognises the good intentions behind such constituency project assistances and other similar donations by NGOs and other philanthropic bodies giving such farm inputs.
The alliance also advised donor bodies to ensure that they properly, precisely put out public warnings on how dangerous these products are.
“These are products over which people abroad are taking companies to court and winning, due to the toxicity of the active ingredients’’.
AAPN noted that over 207 people died in Oyoobi community in Benue state because a pesticide containing Endosulfan was found in the community river in 2020.
“Who knows if the pesticide was given to the farmers by a legislator or an NGO doing Philanthropic work?
“There are identified alternatives in the market and from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) which are Organic bio pesticides and bio-organic fertilizers, and even organic herbicides.
“We call on legislators and politicians to not only give these safer sustainable organic and nature and human healthy organic inputs as constituency support to farmers, but as well invest in them locally.
“They should also support a people-protection Pesticides Bill that protects Nigerians,’’ AAPN added – rather than laws that promotes business profits over the lives of all Nigerians.
The network challenged NAFDAC to update the agency’s outdated list of pesticides on their website, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Agency (FCCPC) to investigate online marketers like Jumia, Konga, Afrimash, Farmpay, Farmsquare, jiji.
AAPN frowned at these platforms selling recently banned pesticide brands containing Atrazine, Paraquate and other banned Active Ingredients.
It, therefore, issued an ultimatum that should these online markets not remove these products, it would consider legal action against them and the regulating agencies for complacency.
