Quarantine service provides revised guidelines for agro-export commodities

agric-exports

The Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), has provided revised 10 guidelines for exporters of agricultural commodities to avoid rejection in the destination countries.

Dr. Chigozie Nwodo, the Head of Media, Communication and Strategies Unit, NAQS who made the statement, added that Nigerian agro-commodities were rejected abroad because some of the exporters don’t follow the guidelines.

He said that agricultural items intended for export might be rejected for some reasons but if followed properly agro-commodities would be accepted all over the world which would definitely boost the economy.

According to him, absence of sanitary certificate which is normally issued after inspection and certification of the content of the cargo can cause rejection.

He added that wrong labelling is also an obstacle because the information on the label of the cargo must be descriptive of the exact contents of the cargo as they were in the Sanitary certificate.

Other guidelines are absence of additional declaration. Some countries require declarations like date of harvest, place of harvest, whether there are any special handling precautions in addition to the sanitary certificate.

Nwodo, however, urged the exporters to obtain general information on quarantine procedures from their official website: www.naqs.gov.ng or contact NAQS preparatory to export for more specific guidance on agro-export.

News Credit: VON