UNSCRUPULOUS Nigerians are exploiting the ineffective or rather failed regulatory system of agrochemicals administration in the country to afflict fellow citizens, findings by The ICIR have shown.

Fruit, fish and meat sellers and farmers flagrantly use the chemicals to ripen or preserve their goods or yields in order to maximize profit, without having regards for the health of the consumers.

The ICIR’s investigation has shown that some of the chemicals that were banned 12 years ago and those that were recently considered too unsafe by the government to be sold in open markets are still very much available in various Abuja markets. Pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and other chemicals can be found in the open market. The chemicals are used on foods such as grains, cereals, legumes, and later taken to the market against approved duration when the potency of the chemicals should have worn off.

The investigation has also revealed that while the administration of some of the chemicals is allowed at permissible levels for food storage to avoid post-harvest losses, those who administer the chemical on the food items are untrained to do so.

Pests such as weevils, moths, flour beetles, borers, et cetera and rodents, fungi as well as bacteria destroy farm yields. They also produce substances that are toxic for humans and animals, such as aflatoxins, fumonisins, patulin among others. It is for these reasons that many farmers choose to preserve their products with chemicals.

Such activity is expectedly supposed to be done outside human and animal residences, but The ICIR found out they are being done right inside living rooms. Wrong uses of the products in Abuja are common among illiterates who constitute the majority of sellers of agro-chemicals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The reporter observes that, at least, two out of five sellers of agro-chemical products in satellite communities in the city can hardly read or write. Communication is usually a barrier and there is a possibility for buyers to get the wrong products.

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My brother you have a valid point there.

God will save us all in this country

very good work by ICIr, this scenario is rampant all over the country