Yemisi Izuora
Dr Vincent Isegbe, the Director-General, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine, has disclosed plans to resume resume the exportation of hibiscus flower to Mexico.
Isegbe, who made this known on Thursday in Kano at a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop, said that the exportation would resume after two-and-a-half years of banning the country from exporting the product.
According to him, the ban has consumed over 85 per cent of hibiscus flowers produced in Nigeria.
He said that NAQS had succeeded in reaching an agreement with the Mexican authorities on the exportation processes that needed to be complied with.
Isegbe said that the sensitisation meeting was aimed at informing stakeholders in the hibiscus value chain on the latest development and to clear the air on the misconception on the use of Methyl bromide in pre-shipment storage.
He said: “As a supervisory agency, I want to state here that we have not selected any exporter in preference for another; we have done all it takes to see that exportation of hibiscus flower has resumed.
“However, it is equally very important to note that Nigeria is not the only country that has approved the use of Methyl bromide for pre-shipment storage.
“With the cooperation of major players along the value chain of hibiscus flower production, we have completed all arrangements to resume exportation to Mexico.”
The National President, Hibiscus Exporters’ Association of Nigeria, Olatunji Lawal, said the country had lost huge revenue as a result of the over two years ban on the exportation of the flower.
He added the exportation would boost the country’s economy and those of individual exporters.