Yemisi Izuora
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has welcomed the registration of new herbicides that are more friendly to the environment.
The agency, expressing confidence on the new products, said it would soon place ban on the importation of paraquat and Atrazine products commonly known as sniper.
The NAFDAC’s planned snipper ban is in response to the soaring rate of suicide for which sniper insecticide has been the killer substance being used by the victims.
Dr Husman Bukar, the Director, Veterinary Medicine and Allied Products Directorate, NAFDAC, who gave the indication at the launch of a herbicide (Lifeline), produced by United Phosphorous Limited (UPL), said the date of the ban is yet to be announced, and that the agency would mount evidence that the products hurt applicators and the environment.
Bukar said the decision was coming at a time when new herbicides that are safer and environmentally friendly were being registered in Nigeria.
“A date for the ban has not been announced but it will happen very soon. Paraquat has been banned in several countries and we cannot continue to allow it to come into Nigeria,” he said.
He also announced stricter measures to curtail the use of Snipper (Dichlorvos or 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate) in homes to end the abuse of the pesticide which in recent times had been associated with suicides in Nigeria.
“Recently, some suicide cases have been associated with people drinking Snipper, henceforth, we call on the agro-chemical industry to enhance their distribution channels so that this product (Snipper) gets to only accredited distributors and marketers.
“We have also placed a ban on the manufacture of smaller packs of Snipper which are easily purchased for household use.
“On the use of glyphosate by farmers, NAFDAC has placed a ban on glyphosate-based formulations with tallow-amine (an emulsifier and wetting agent for agrochemical formulations.
“Agrochemical companies have been given the grace period of between now and December 2019 to withdraw all glyphosate formulations with tallow-amine from the Nigerian market,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Shanni Srivastava, the UPL Country Manager, said his company was working towards ensuring that only safer and environmentally friendly herbicides are introduced in the Nigerian market for the benefit of farmers.
He said the debut of Lifeline was to offer a better and safer alternative to paraquat which in several countries in Africa had been banned.
On his part, the President of the Maize Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mr Aminu Abubakar, described Lifeline as an excellent weed control herbicide in maize.
Abubakar said that most of the maize farmers were now using the product and commended UPL for inaugurating the product in Nigeria.
He also commended IITA and Springfield Agrochemicals for collaborating with UPL to ensure that Nigerian farmers benefited from the innovation.
Mr Tope Olabokunde, a cassava farmer, who participated in the Technologies for African Agriculture Transformation (TAAT) programme where Lifeline was used by researchers from IITA, said the product was a good controller of weeds