Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Friends of the Earth, Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz, and PAN Europe launched a Nigerian edition of Pesticide Atlas on Monday. The Pesticide Atlas was launched with a consideration for the increasing global consumption of pesticides and how it causes harm to insects and plants while contaminating water bodies in Nigeria.
Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest importers of pesticides and the highest in West Africa, with about 147,477 tons brought in 2020. Nigeria currently has no pesticide reduction strategy or plan, but Pesticide Atlas seeks to provide information on how pesticides are used and their impacts on human health and the environment in Nigeria.
Pesticide Atlas includes facts and figures about toxic chemicals in agriculture, pesticide use in Africa, how pesticides contaminate rivers, lakes, coastal water and groundwater. It also features the impact of pesticides on soil and invisible ecosystem, health consequences of pesticides as well as imported and exported pesticides banned in the European Union.
Speaking at the luncheon on April 3, 2023, Programme Manager of the Sustainable Nigeria Program of the Heinrich-Böll Foundation Nigeria, Mr Donald Ikenna, noted that the number of pesticide poisonings was rising sharply worldwide. He highlighted why Nigeria still faced pesticide-related challenges to include a lack of knowledge exacerbated by agrochemical companies’ failure to disclose chemical pesticides’ health, environmental, and financial ramifications.
He also cited the absence of regulations governing pesticides use as well as farmers’ need for diversification as major challenges facing the country. He encouraged government organisations and farmers to work together to address these problems.
Representatives from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC), the Small Holder Women Farmers Organization of Nigeria (SWOFON) and the Alliance for Action on Pesticides in Nigeria (AAPN) were present at the meeting. They served as panellists during a question-and-answer session.
The meeting also had civil society organisations and media houses in attendance.