Farmers Advised to Improve on Production Quality

Farmers in the State of Osun have been advised to improve on the level of their production to meet with international standard.

This was said by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce, Mr.Femi Popoola at a one-day workshop on demonstration of Agricultural produce’s drying equipment for product quality improvement, preservation and export competiveness organised by Nigerian Export Promotion Council in Osogbo.

While declaring the workshop open, Mr. FEMI Popoola said Nigeria is a country blessed with agricultural vegetation and it is very germane at this time for farmers to standardize their products for export purpose.

He enjoined participants to embrace the opportunity and put into practice what they have been told to make their product competitive in the market and improve the economy of the country.

In his opening remarks, Director, National Export office, Mr. M.A.Iranloye said Nigerian Export Promotion Council initiated a project two years ago to get Nigerian local foods: fresh and processed to European Community and market.

The project succeeded in picking on a number of processed foods that could be pushed to the European market but findings showed that the drying equipment/methods many of them deployed were inefficient and not capable of achieving proper drying in good time and suppliers of produce to most of the processors relied mainly on sun drying, making the produce susceptible to introduction of aflatoxin hence rejected in the end at the international market.

He stated that Nigeria Export Promotion Council organised the workshop with the intention to address the age-long attitude of Nigerian farmers “sun drying” as the sole means of produce preservation and guide against the quality issues associated with this practice.

Mr. Iranloye later implored stakeholders with resources to invest in the acquisition of this equipment with a view to deploying same for the use of clustered farmers/ processors that may not have the capacity to purchase one as this would help drive non-oil export development and diversification of Nigeria economy