Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has inaugurated a $1.2 million standards trade development facility to strengthen food safety in Nigeria.
The standards trade development facility is a global initiative that seeks to strengthen food safety, as well as animal and plant health capacity in developing countries by encouraging the use of good practices.
While speaking during the event on Tuesday, the Director-General of the WTO, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, explained that although Nigeria has huge potential in the production and export of Cowpea and sesame, the rejection of the two products remains a huge challenge owing to poor transportation and storage of the agricultural products to other parts of the world.
Nigeria is the third largest producer of Sesame in Africa, with approximately 500 metric tonnes produced in 2022, and over 5.2 million metric tonnes of dried cowpea produced annually.
According to Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, the facility will build the capacities of Nigerian farmers to produce agricultural products that meet export standards.
She stated that her organisation had been assisting Nigerians and other countries to improve the export of shea products, as this would impact positively the economy of the concerned nations.
The DG added that the WTO was founded so that trade could help to raise living standards, create jobs, and promote sustainable development.
She charged the Nigerian government to improve the quality of its exports, as a lot of the commodities do not meet the sanitary and phytosanitary measures required for export.
