Nigeria: Agrochemicals and food poisoning

Agrochemicals have a lot of benefits in improving the quality and quantity of agricultural produce, it is one of the wonderful technological breakthroughs in the field of agriculture and it is intended to benefit the farmer and ensure increased farm yields.

This breakthrough, wonderful as it may be, needs to be used or applied in the farm with caution in order to get the best result and avoid the danger inherent such as food poisoning which occurs with wrong application and such other abuses.

Agrochemicals such as, fertilizers, herbicides and other such chemicals used in plant and animal production can result to food poisoning if applied wrongly, thereby posing serious health risk, and in extreme cases lead to death once such food is consumed.

Some of the benefits of agrochemicals range from improved quality of produce, improved animal and crop yields among others.

President of the North Central Agro Input Dealers Association (NOCCAIDA), Alhaji Raufu Adekunle Lawal said agrochemicals generally referred to as Crop Protection Products (CPPs) are used to prevent and fight crop and animal pests and diseases that can be harmful to human if consumed.

He said apart from the protection of crops from pest and diseases, agrochemicals improves crop yield and prevent the transfer of some diseases from plants to humans. Apart from these, the quality and price value of the yield is greatly improved and this would enable farmers to sell their products at competitive prices.

"Farmers need to be educated on how to apply agrochemicals to avoid cases of overdose or under dose which may prove fatal in the end or lead to disease resistance in crops and wrongful application can cause food poisoning which can be deadly," he warned.

He stressed the need to educate farmers and other users of agrochemicals and availability of credible outlets where they can purchase standard pesticides because some that are used to preserve food must be allowed to breakdown completely before the food can be consumed.

Mr. Sola Bayowa also of NOCCAIDA explained that despite its many advantages, pesticides when wrongly applied can lead to food poisoning in some cases which is why there is need for farmers to understand that although there are a lot of advantages associated with pesticides usage, it must not be abused because of the dangers inherent.

He however maintained that the benefits of agrochemicals in agriculture far outweigh the disadvantages because they are formulated to help boost production, improve the quality of production as well as ensure food availability.

According to him, when safety precautions are not properly observed when these chemical compounds are used, it could lead to food poisoning or other forms of poisoning due to exposure especially when protective gears are not used to protect the farmers from the effects of such chemicals.

"We know that agrochemicals are very beneficial to agricultural production in general but as chemical compounds, there are safety precautions to follow to avoid being poisoned," he advised.

High incidence of illiteracy and poverty among farmers are largely responsible for most cases of improper and wrong use of agrochemicals especially when farmers are unable to identify the proper chemical to use in the preservation of food after harvest or during harvest, or to better farm output or yield, Mr. Bayowa said.

Meanwhile some chemicals like parathion, phosphamidon, monocroptophos, methamidophos, chlorobenzilate, toxaphene, endrin, merix endosulphan, delta HCH and ethylene oxide have been banned by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) because they were discovered to be responsible for food poisoning leading to a number of deaths.

Source: All Africa