Reversing ban on beans with organic preservation, sprays our priority – Farmers

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AFTER 10 years of placing ban on bean exports from Nigeria by the European Union, EU, due to high chemical residues, farmers under the auspices of the Cowpea and Beans Farmers, Processors, and Marketers Association of Nigeria, C&BFPMAN, have resolved to use organic methods of preservation and sprays to reverse the ban.

According to reports, over 76 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural exports are rejected by the European Union on safety grounds. For beans alone, Nigeria loses $362.5 million every year due to pesticide contamination.

Speaking with Vanguard, the National Secretary, C&BFPMAN, Sunday Ojonugwa, said the impact of the ban is still affecting farmers and exporters, therefore, traced the cause to ignorance, which led to use of snipers to preserve the beans.

According to Ojonugwa, following the detection of these impurities the association has taken it upon itself to train over 29,000 beans and cowpea farmers on the best methods to cultivate and preserve beans and cowpeas.

Current beans production

He said: “Currently, cowpea and beans is around 12 million metric tonnes annually and is our staple food. Staple food in the sense that we consume it in Nigeria and we used to export before.”

Use of sniper, other chemicals led to ban

According to him, “Nigeria happens to be one of the highest producers in the world market. Until it came to a time, it was banned in 2015 by the EU and the US because of the impurities found in the cowpea and beans from Nigeria.

“Actually, we cannot say totally that they are not from our members but one of the reasons is ignorance. Some prefer to store this cowpea with chemicals that are hazardous.

“Snipers in the market are used to preserve the beans, whereas there are other organic ways of preserving it, which will make it edible and to be hazard-free. But as it is, so many farmers are ignorant. They don’t want to lose whatever they produce from the farm.”

Organic preservation methods of beans

Meanwhile, he said there are simple and less expensive organic methods of beans preservation that could reverse the method of hazardous chemical preservations that are dangerous to the health of consumers and the farmers nas well.

“The organic methods of preserving beans without going bad; all the organic products of preserving beans, like the use of dogoyaro can be used to preserve the beans by putting the leaves in water, then you spray it at the farm level, weevils will not attack your beans any longer because of the smell, and it is actually organic.

“There are organic herbicides and organic fertilizers that are in the market now. Like in Nigeria now, there is a company that is of world class standard that is manufacturing this organic herbicides.

“And there are also enzymes that can be applied to cowpea farms in such a way that the insects will not be able to attack your cowpea or beans in the market any longer.

“There are a number of methods that can be applied to our cowpea farms and at the post-harvest storage levels these days.”

Building farmers’ capacity on organic preservation methods

Meanwhile, he disclosed that farmer’s capacity building is ongoing to change the narrative.

He said: “The issue is we need to approach it in such a way as a group of farmers to make sure that we produce our cowpeas and beans in a modern way so that the ban that has been placed on our cowpeas can be lifted in a short while based on integrated pest management training that we have undergone.

“Most especially, the World Trade Organization, WTO, through our own sister Dr. Ngozi Iweala, decided to attract grants from international trade organizations to make sure that farmers, stakeholders, association members are trained to make sure that the beans that are consumed from Nigeria are hazard-free.

“We are working with the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, NEPC, to make sure that these bans are lifted from Nigeria so that we will be able to export our beans.

“The training has commenced. We had the training about three months ago in Lagos and also the processes are on to make sure that we are producing cowpeas that are not hazardous to our health. It started from From 2024 to 2029, basically training them on integrated pest management.

“We have trained them on both sesame seeds and cowpea, and out members have been trained so far at the national level, and we are supposed to cascade it down to various states. So far it’s at the national level that we have trained the national officers who were selected for the training in Lagos, and after their training we are supposed to cascade it down to various states.

“Our target is 29,000 farmers trained all over the country. We believe that this is going to solve the problem to some extent. Awareness will be created, there will be multiplier effects and those farmers and marketers that are storing at the post-harvest storage level will be made aware that it is not going to be business as usual.

“They have to do their normal harvesting to make sure that our beans are wholesome for consumption.”

To scale up beans production beyond 12 million metric tonnes

“In fact, this year, with as many that have produced beans this year, there is going to be an increase in their harvest and we are going to exceed that. There are so many people that have decided to cultivate beans this year and there is an offering for them to be able to increase their productivity.”

Alleges exclusion of beans from school-feeding programme

He (Ojonugwa) alleged exclusion of beans from the Federal Government’s School-feeding programme, therefore, called on the government to revisit the menu, pointing out that the ‘marriage’ between beans and rice should not be put asunder.

“The school feeding programme is about to take place. Beans and cowpeas will play a major role for the school children, IDPs, the unity schools.

“In fact, I call it the ‘marriage’ between rice and beans but the government has not realized the role that beans are playing because rice is the only plant protein that is being used to feed school children or children of school age. So beans farmers have to be encouraged in such a way that they increase their productivity”, he added.

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