Stakeholders move to make Nigeria benefit from $7.21bn global beans market

Efforts are being made to help Nigeria re-enter the global beans market estimated at $7.21 billion, which is expected to hit $9.43 billion by 2028.
Nigeria produces nearly 47 million metric tonnes of beans from an estimated 4.5 million hectares yearly, making it the largest producer in Africa and fourth largest producer in the world.

In 2015, the European Union (E.U.) banned the importation of Nigerian beans for containing high pesticide, considered harmful to health.

At present, dried beans are prohibited from being taken to the United Kingdom and E.U.

Nigerian exporters had complained about the U.K. and E.U.’s rejection of several agricultural produce from Africa’s biggest economy, an action that had often resulted in huge financial losses to the merchants.

Lead Strategist, FutuX Agri-consult Limited, Babatunde Olarewaju said exporting beans with sustainable certifications would help Nigeria make huge money from the global market as well as the government to foster, economic, social and environmental sustainability at the same time.

According to him, sustainable certification of beans identify it as green produce, for which many are willing to pay a higher price.

According to him, the approach would increase the country’s export earnings while also protecting the environment and creating more jobs.

Recently, stakeholders raised concerns that Nigeria has been losing $382.5 million yearly arising from the ban on beans exportation by the E.U. in the last eight years, bringing the total loss to $2.9 billion.

The stakeholders stated this in a communique released at the end of a stakeholders’meeting on agroecology and climate justice as well as the official launch of the Strategic Partnership for Agroecology and Climate Justice in West Africa (SPAC) West Africa.

The project was organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and ActionAid Nigeria at the weekend in Abuja.

The stakeholders included the House Committee on Agriculture Production and Services, Action Aid Nigeria, Small scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON), All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and the Nigeria Agribusiness (NABG).

While emphasising the need to embrace agroecology, they maintained that though only 25 per cent of chemical pesticides are used by developing countries like Nigeria, the region experienced 99 per cent of deaths from chemical pesticides.

EU extended Nigeria’s bean export ban till June 2022, over the country’s failure to implement its food safety action plan submitted to the commission in 2018.