Report of the GAIN Nigeria Postharvest Loss Alliance for

Nutrition (PLAN) Symposium on Reducing Postharvest

Losses in Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FFVs) in Nigeria
 Date: August 10th 2016
Venue: International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria

For More Information Contact:

Roberta Lauretti-Bernhard, Senior Technical Advisor
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

E: rlbernhard@gainhealth.org
Skype: rlbernhard67

ACRONYMS

APP Agricultural Promotion Policy

CENRAD Centre for Environment, Renewable Natural Resources Management
Research and Development
FIIRO Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshidi
FFV Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
FMARD Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
GAIN Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
GEMS4 Growth and Employment in States
GCCA Global Cold Chain Alliance
IITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
IOPN Institute of Packaging Nigeria
NABG Nigeria Agribusiness Group
NAFDAC National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control
NARI National Agricultural Research Institute
NIHORT National Horticultural Research Institute
NIRSAL Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending
NPFN National Policy on Food and Nutrition
PHL/W Postharvest loss and waste
PLAN Postharvest Loss Alliance for Nutrition
SON Standards Organization of Nigeria
SOP Standard Operating Procedure
TOPAN Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association of Nigeria

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) organised a special symposium on Reducing
Postharvest losses in Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FFVs) in Nigeria on August 10, 2016 at the 3rd All
Africa Horticultural Congress 2106. The Symposium was held at the Conference Centre of the

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International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan and discussions focused on finance for
agribusinesses, challenges of the cold chain, crating and packaging, food safety, policy, logistics,
research, nutrition, and processing sectors. Resource persons with the required expertise and
experience were purposefully selected to discuss the issues that should be addressed practically in the
value chain of FFVs in order to reduce postharvest losses. During the symposium, participants learned
more about GAIN and GAIN’s new initiative the Postharvest Loss Alliance for Nutrition (PLAN) project,
its goals and the unique alliance approach to reducing postharvest losses aligned with its Business to
Business Engine (B2BE). Participants also cut across all actors and stakeholders in the FFV value chain-
from farmers to processors and consumers.

Discussions & interest among the participants centred on how to utilize improved cold chain
technologies to prevent postharvest losses and ensure adequate nutrition. With inadequate supply of
electrical power, issues of alternatives such as solar energy were discussed and it was clear that solar
energy has great potential for driving the cold chain infrastructure in Nigeria. Access to capital for
agribusiness is a big concern to improve the cold chain as the usual collateral requirements and high
interest rates by commercial banks is a major problem for would-be investors and existing
agribusinesses. However, the establishment of the Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for
Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) to provide risk buy-back and guarantee for lending banks is beginning to
offer hope for actors and stakeholders. Food safety concerns in the FFV supply chains were highlighted
as a Nigerian & global issue as unsafe food comes across many African country borders which are
porous and have little to no enforcement. Consequently, the food safety standards and regulations set
by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should be simplified and made user friendly for the
users to understand and comply. Research outputs in postharvest technologies have not been well
coordinated and disseminated to reflect any new technology that reduces PHL/W, as most findings with
potential have not been commercialised. Consequently, it was stressed that research activities must be
aligned with specific needs and not just for academic purposes, and made more available and/or in
conjunction with to the private sector.

Policy inconsistencies and lack of strategic framework for implementation was identified as a major
problem. Infrastructural deficiencies have been a major limitation to effective logistics development for
the cold chain and transportation sectors in Nigeria. The emergence of alternative transportation via
railway by a private railway company is a highly promising development for the agriculture sector.
Proper handling of fresh fruits and vegetables for storage and direct consumption and
processing/packaging of more fresh fruits and vegetables into shelf stable products would help reduce
PHL and improve access to affordable nutritious foods in Nigeria.

Recommendations were made to develop models that would lead to shared value across the value
chain. Due to losses associated with the use of raffia baskets during transportation and the inability to
standardize measurements, it is necessary to phase out the use of baskets for more durable and safer
reusable plastic crates in order to ensure a standard unit of measurement across the country.
Furthermore, there is the need to ensure sustainable policies and encourage collaboration amongst
regulatory agencies, research institutions, universities and industries. The Symposium was attended by
over 100 participants.

MODERATORS:

Professor Ogugua Charles Aworh, Professor of Food Technology, Department of Food technology,
University of Ibadan.

Dr. Augustine Okoruwa, Project Manager, Agriculture and Nutrition programme (Post Harvest Alliance
for Nutrition), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Abuja, Nigeria

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 DISCUSSION TOPICS/PANELLISTS:

 Private Sector/Agribusiness-Dr Tony Belo, DG/CEO Agribusiness Group

 Agric. Finance: Mr. Aliyu Hammed, MD/CEO- NIRSAL Plc

 Research/Academia: Dr. Gloria Elemo DG/CEO, FIIRO

 Cold Chain Development: Mr James Rusty Easton, GCCA

 Crating and Packaging: Mr Ahmed Alex Omah. General Secretary Institute of Packaging. Board
member World Packaging Organization (IOPN)

 Food Safety: Mrs Margaret E. Eshiett. Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) Director; Business
Support Services Trade/Codex Lagos.

 FFVs Farmers Rep: Mr. Bola Oyeleke, CEO Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association of Nigeria
(TOPAN), Abuja

 Logistics-Mr Edeme Kelikume-MD/CEO, Connect Rail Services Limited. Lagos

 Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FFVs) Processing: Dr. Jide Adedeji, Founder/MD Easy Sauces Nigeria
Ltd, Lagos

 Nutrition/Policy: Dr. Adeyinka Onabolu, Senior Advisor on Food Security and Nutrition, Office of
the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Abuja

SUMMARY OF RECCOMMENDATIONS

Key recommendations for each theme that emerged from the symposium include:

Standards and Regulations

 Clear requirements from SON for food safety and packaging are needed
 Clear, simplified and specific requirements by NAFDAC for product registration by SMEs and
agribusinesses
 SON should organize trainings on food safety for stakeholders, universities, (other agencies) and
other trainers who will be able to pass information to farmers.
 Information on the SON/CODEX/NAFDAC should be actively disseminated to all actors and
stakeholders
 Farmers and businesses need to know “export standards” and compliance for US and European
markets,
 SON should reach out to the NARIs to propagate their standard ideas on commodities for easy
recall, especially since many stakeholders go to NARIs for their regulatory and food safety needs

Policy

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  Agricultural extension agents need to be empowered to educate farmers on packaging and
general issues of postharvest losses and how to reduce it.
 There should be a specific policy on production, processing and marketing inclusive of
transportation methods with proactive implementation by enforcement agencies
 Government needs to be involved and invested at every level of the value chain by providing
training and capacity building infrastructure, storage structure, information, networking and
supervision.
 A policy to control pesticide importation, sale and use in the country is needed

Advocacy /Partnership building

 Need more education to create awareness among stakeholders

 Create stronger collaborations among all stakeholders
 Internal collaborations with all relevant agencies and NARIs
 NSPRI with the national mandate into post-harvest should be part of the PLAN project

Crating and packaging/Agribusiness & Technology

 There is an urgent need to shorten transportation time for fresh fruits and vegetables
 To stop or prevent postharvest loss, it is recommended that industries be moved closer to the
farm. But if not possible they could first be processed into intermediate raw materials to be
used by commercial industries in the cities.
 There needs to be a movement away from raffia baskets to reduce losses of tomatoes and to
provide equitable measurement (per kilo vs per raffia basket) of tomatoes being sold and
bought.
 The Agribusiness Value Chain should be visible, classified and grouped.
 Nigeria needs more adequate processing facilities for tomatoes to reduce postharvest losses.
 The PLAN project can function with establishment of Platforms on the commodities to address
all value chain performances

Finance

 More collaboration with finance partners are needed to ensure farmer access to finance
 Funding for home base research by Government, industries and farmers.
 Agribusiness that have access to power challenges to discuss with NIRSAL

Research and Knowledge

 There should be better synergy between National Research Institutions and the
commercialization of their research output and the industry
 Collaborate with NIHORT, especially the product development programme for fruit and
vegetable processing, training and nutrition awareness among people.
 Research arm to work with field actors to identify challenges (packing house/crating/storage,
cold chain, and processors.
 There is need for intellectual property rights for developers of technologies among researchers
in Nigeria.
 Regular meetings between farmers and researchers which will enable researchers conduct
research to solve farmers problems required
 Projects from FIIRO should be made available for people to explore their commercialization

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  Scholarships should be made available to encourage young scientists interested in developing
new technologies in breeding, plant biotechnology and postharvest technologies.
 Research institutes should be given national projects that will move from production to
processing and delivery to end users in a collaborator form. This would enable the nation bridge
gaps between the institutes and achieve national goals.

Cold Chain and Logistics

 Small scale food processors could form cooperatives to put in place basic unit
operations/processing centers to aggregate supply and disperse startup and regulatory costs
 Shorten transportation time and explore use of solar energy (there are solar companies in
Nigeria) for cold room operations
 Alternative logistics such as the use of cold rooms on the rail system has great potential and
should be encouraged and harnessed.

Farmers

 Provide farmers easier access to loans with affordable interest rates. It is a known fact that 80%
of the farmers in Nigeria are peasant farmers; unfortunately, over 70% of them do not receive
loans. More farmers need to collaborate through cooperatives to ease the facilitation and
reduce risk of loans.
 Focus on input-agricultural products-Organic fertilizer, bio-pesticides and growth regulators.
Benefits include decreased use of pesticides during cultivation, zero residue on crops, improved
soil organic matter and consistent yield/ hectare
 It was suggested that for PLAN to be fully implemented, local farmers should be brought
together and educated to implement and comply with the policies.
 Knowledge of Agriculture/Postharvest Technology should be encouraged at the grass root level.

Strategic Focus

 Develop an implementation framework for reducing post-harvest losses and wastes

 Ensure follow-up and monitoring of projects for effective delivery of set outputs.
 Special request-Jos plateau is blessed with temperature climate and is able to produce both
temperate and tropical vegetables. So much is being wasted, please consider including Plateau
State among the pilot states.

PANEL DISCUSSION: SESSION 1

Opening Remarks by GAIN-PLAN Project Manager-Dr. Augustine Okoruwa

Dr. Okoruwa introduced the Postharvest Loss Alliance for Nutrition (PLAN) as a new project created
by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). PLAN has a global and country-wide
component. Nigeria is the first country selected to start the PLAN project. He noted that PLAN is
currently at the design phase and will soon move to the pilot stage and then to full implementation.
He welcomed participants to the Symposium and encouraged participants to be open minded and
communicate clearly to contribute meaningful suggestions on how reduction in post-harvest losses
can be achieved. Thereafter, Dr Okoruwa introduced Professor Ogugua Charles Aworh, (Moderator),
and the Resource Panellists for Session I discussions.

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Setting the tone for discussion: A recent Agribusiness Experience of Postharvest Losses in FFVs
(Transcripts in Annex 1: Box 1& Box 2)

To set the tone of the discussion, Mr Emmanuel Ijewere, Chairman of Best Foods Group, Lagos and
National Coordinator of the Nigerian Agribusiness Group (NABG) described a recent experience in
Bichi village, Kano state where he went to purchase fresh tomatoes for his company. The story
summarised the typical experience of farmers in the fresh fruit and vegetable value chain at the farm
gate. In his report, he told a story of the hard work being done by farmers and their high production
of tomatoes which, unfortunately, do not result in increased labour. Farmers are unable to reap the
rewards of their labour due to poor storage infrastructure and lack of cold chain technology to move
produce quickly from the farm to the plate.

Mr Ijewere illustrated the scenario of Mallam Rabiu, a typical farmer who although hard working
made little money due to unpredictable weather; grossly under-priced produce and a slew of
middlemen extorting him. In addition, he explained in detail the frustrations and difficulties
encountered in moving FFVs from the point of aggregation to the point of sale due to a lack of cold
chain management. He lamented the situation where a raffia basket is more expensive than the
content of tomatoes at Bichi village. He reflected that this was the current plight of farmers and that
there poor economic returns is unacceptable. Mr Ijewere emphasized the importance of finding a
workable solution to the problems of post-harvest loss and cold chain management if processing
companies were to survive and remain sustainable in 2017. He encouraged participants to combine
knowledge, research and collaborative efforts to assist farmers to maximize the productivity and
value of fresh fruits and vegetable. He stressed the need to plan strategies to ensure that investors in
marketing of FFVs do not operate at a loss. Mr Ijewere also reiterated the need to pay attention to
standardization of baskets as a unit of measurement for sale of tomatoes and other fruits and
vegetables. The current basket in use has a wide variation in volume ranging from about 35kg to 60
kg of tomatoes.

Moderator Comments-Professor O. C Aworh

Professor Aworh thanked GAIN for highlighting post-harvest losses specifically of fruits and
vegetables through the PLAN project. He regretted that a resolution on post-harvest losses in
developing countries (and its effect on poverty) made at the United Nations General Assembly back
in 1975 by the American Diplomat Henry Kissinger did not result in the research and development as
it should in Nigeria. He noted how focus has now shifted from post-harvest and cold chain
development to safety and quality for developing countries to meet the needs of the global market
demand. Therefore he was happy that discussions on cold chain management had been renewed.
Since maintaining fresh fruits and vegetables requires energy which is sometimes unavailable, he
wanted to know current practices in alternative power solutions.

Cold Chain Development: Mr. James Rusty Eason, GCCA

Mr. James Rusty, consultant to Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) highlighted key cold chain issues
and emerging technologies. He emphasized the need to examine post-harvest loss from a local
government perspective and noted that government must adopt policies that encourage greater
investment in post-harvest storage and distribution network infrastructures. He urged that
implementation should be taken seriously if notable development in the sector is desired.

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Mr Ijewere stressed the importance of starting preservation from the farm gate and wondered how
other alternatives like solar energy could be pursued to provide the much needed intervention
solution.

Professor Aworh encouraged the need for farmer education especially in the area of proper handling
in order to extend shelf life. There must be preservation right from the farm gate as there is no
amount of refrigeration that can rescue a product that has been damaged from the farm. Post-
harvest loss management means preservation and this means having the right energy source. So it
calls for understanding different sources of power, especially in solar energy. The discussion is also
needed to shape the thinking of the banking assurer of the needs to attain effective cold chain. At
this juncture, Dr. Okoruwa introduced the participant from a company providing solar energy
solution, Asteven Solar technology Solution in order to complement the discussion on how to
generate energy to maintain cold chain. Another solar energy solution company was later introduced
as well.

Comment by Prof Aworh: Post-harvest management must begin at the farm level and requires a fully
integrated system. A distinction must be made and this must be considered in the process of
identifying solutions. There are some other critical inputs required especially in the area of education
on harvesting practices. In countries like Guatemala, people have simple harvesting devices; a small
knife attached to a bag with a holding container brings the mango down with little or no damage,
just as they are on the tree. The harvesting practices in Nigeria contribute to postharvest losses and
there is a need for education on appropriate ways to handle perishable produce. This calls for
collaboration and partnership on the part of the government, the industries and all the major actors
and stakeholders in the fruit and vegetables value chain

The issue of appropriate packaging is crucial, taking into account the scenario described by Mr
Ijewere. He perceived it as an enduring issue that will persist for a long time if not functionally
resolved. Prof Aworh cited a PhD work carried out in the early 80s that used palm fronds to design
improved baskets, which was unfortunately not followed up nor used. Today, there are inherent
issues of measurement by volume rather than by weight using raffia baskets. This may explain why
the value of containers are more than the cost of the content, and called for a discussion on the
issue of packaging as it relates to FFV and processed products which will be explored in detail in
discussion session 2.

Mr. Ijerewe responded to the issue of farmer education by further contextualizing the case of
Mallam Rabiu, a farmer with no formal education. Getting him to learn how to harvest will present a
lot of challenges and an approach to tackle the challenge is to buy up his farm and get people who
are educated to come and harvest and get him to watch how it is done. This form of teaching by
demonstration is the way to get the farmers to learn improved harvesting techniques.

Regarding the packaging using baskets, Mr Ijewere called for the need to standardize measurements,
noting that the use of baskets as a traditional means of measurement should have ended 50 years
ago, “it should have stopped since the time of "Mungo park but followed-up to Professor Aworh
time ”.

Dr. Okoruwa then briefed participants that the DFID-funded project GEMS4 referred to by Mr.
Ijewere was managed by a participant, Mr. Richard Ogundele of GEMS4 who was present at the

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 meeting and could be contacted by participants. The GEMS4 project activities included mapping of
tomatoes in 12 Northern states and the promotion of crates in place of raffia baskets for
transportation. The mapping data is available for dissemination.

In his comment, Professor Aworh further stressed the need for documentation so that we are
reaching beyond Mallam Rabiu and his family. He noted that in the 70’s, plastic crates were designed
using funding from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. The challenge is how to
introduce improved crating methods because it is usually not the farmer who bears the cost. He
reiterated that cost of postharvest losses are usually passed on to the consumers and asked what
can be done to replace the baskets and how we introduce new innovations such as crates.

Logistics: Mr. Edeme Kelikume, Connect Rail Services Limited

Mr. Edeme Kelikume, CEO Connect Rail Services Limited highlighted key points.

 Mr. Edeme asked “Can we get tomatoes sold in crates to the point when it is content only” as
with the sale of bottled beverages in Nigeria? He pointed out that this could happen this year
with the help of DFID and others. He then shared his recent experience transporting cattle from
Jebba to Lagos via rail. He stated that with the support of NIRSAL, the tomatoes can be
transported via rail from the farm to sales outlets like Shoprite chain with minimal damage and
losses. This home-grown solution of transporting FFVs using the rail system is planned to be
demonstrated before the end of 2016. The aim is to ensure that for every sale made, the
farmer gets value for their labour to motivate their “business acumen” and zeal to produce
more.

 Mr. Edeme acknowledged the progress being made in the railway system in Nigeria. He
expressed delight in the success he recorded in moving the first shipment of cattle from Jebba
to Lagos within 24 hours. This resulted in time saved on transportation and healthy and agile
cattle were delivered. He stated that he did this first rail trip “free of charge” to prove to the
cattle owners that it could be done. This trip would usually take 2-3 days by lorry as the
independent truck drivers make frequent stops and the highway infrastructure is poor and so
the truck movement is slow. When the cattle were off loaded from the train, they were on their
feet walking and healthy and the people in the market cheered when they saw the healthy and
lively cattle being off loaded from the rail wagons. This not the case when cattle are transported
by road often standing in a lorry/truck for about 3-4 days with little or no food and water and
are weak and tired at the point of delivery in the market. He informed participants that his
successful trial run resulted in new job orders for shipment of Cattle by rail from five different
states.

 Mr Edeme addressed the need for use of alternative energy like solar technology but noted that
high initial cost may be an issue. However, he stressed that although solar energy remains
expensive, it should be seen as the alternative way to ensure proper cold chain management in
Nigeria. He highlighted the need to create a model where more money is paid to whoever
provides the most value; for when the farmer is adequately compensated, employment and
security would be created, leading to ripple effects that will result in Nigeria becoming a major

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 exporter in the coming years. Efforts should be made to get the industry to use crates so as to
ensure same standard and unit of measurement across board all over the country.

Private Sector/Agribusiness: Dr. Tony Bello, NABG

Dr. Tony Bello, DG/CEO Nigerian Agribusiness Group (NABG) stressed the importance of partnership
between the private and public sectors. This is important in order to learn the problems of the
investor and how best to minimise his risks, enabling him to make profits and pay back loans. He
further stated that NABG is saddled with the responsibility of bringing the two sectors together to
make practical solutions to suit everyone. He then highlighted the structural constraints identified in
the case scenario presented by Mr Ijewere and called for a renewed focus on the role of
government, researchers, the organized private sector and function of NABG in addressing these
constraints. Dr. Bello listed some of the key issues which include:

Market driven investments – noting that the supply side needs to meet needs, as such, it is
important to determine supply needs through a comprehensive market analysis. The case of Mallam
Rabiu presented issues of quality and standards among others and a clear value chain analysis by
describing the experiences from the producer to the marketer, to the supply chain, to the trader, to
market price, to the consumer. From the public sector perspective, he called for the need to
understand tangible issues of the private sector investors that can be taken up from the policy angle
to the Ministry of Agriculture and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who have a
role to reduce the risk of the investor.

 A producer perspective calls for the need to understand what needs to be done to engage the
farmer,
 The need to ensure that the investor has access to resources and the need to ensure that the
weak links are addressed,
 The need to ensure proper documentation of the experiences and provide practical solutions to
guide future investors in agribusiness,
 The need to maximize profit of all key players which include the farmer, the logistics actors and
the investor.

Dr. Bello concluded that partnership between private sector, public sector, and development
partners is a key driver to deliver results. He commended PLAN as a good example of collaboration
to communicate to government the need to work together. He noted that NABG is at the centre and
can play a coordination role to bring investors together to address the structural issues, create jobs
and address food and nutrition security.

Agric Finance: Mr. Aliyu Hameed, NIRSAL Plc

Mr. Aliyu Hameed. MD/CEO of NIRSAL Plc clarified that NIRSAL is not a bank but rather its function is
to enable banks do their jobs and give loans to “business-ready” agribusinesses. The agriculture
finance expert reiterated that NIRSAL is a bridge between access to money and business and that the
organization facilitates development by enabling finance reach viable projects. He stressed that for
the above objectives to be met there should be structures in place and it is only until when these
requirements are understood that finance can be given. He stated that NIRSAL can take key issues

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 such as finance, logistics, research, and articulate them to deliver to policy and decision makers in
the interest of facilitating agribusiness development in Nigeria. He raised three key issues:

 Creating equitably shared value across the value chain is key to sustainability (a 90%:10%
relationship is not acceptable). The farmer should not always be poor when he is the major
producer of the commodity. An equitable approach will ensure that the farmer gets access to
sufficient value (returns on labour and investment) to be able to break out of his cycle of
poverty. If the farmer gets paid his cost plus reasonable gain he is motivated to produce more.
 The need to differentiate fresh produce from processed products since financing for both will be
different
 NIRSAL financing approach: in describing the model, he noted that money cannot go to
unstructured businesses. This calls for an organised group(s) of agribusiness players who can
develop clear priorities and budget that describe the cash flow process.

Prof Aworh, convinced that financing for fresh and processed products will be different, thinks the
fresh produce will always attract more value; when processing is done, there are always changes
despite increasing attempts to minimize nutrient loss and organoleptic properties.

Processing of FFVs: Dr Jide Adedeji, Easy Sauces Nigeria Limited

Dr. Adedeji shared his experience in processing fruits and vegetables, tomatoes, mangoes,
concentrates and the technologies that are available. As the Pioneer CEO of Teragro Commodities
Makurdi, Dr. Adedeji created the first standardized orange and mango concentrate (fit for the world
market) from locally grown Nigerian fruits and vegetables. This resulted in the Coca-Cola Company
purchasing this raw material locally rather than using 100% imported raw material as they had
historically done. Dr Adedeji then shifted to Easy Sauces Nigeria Limited that produces Obe Sauce
(Mixed pepper, onion, and tomatoes paste without any form of use of preservatives). He described
and lamented the experience that he went through to get the business licensed and the product
certified for international standards, a typical example of the difficulty in doing business in Nigeria.

Comments by Mr. Hameed, NIRSAL- he responded to the issue of difficulty of doing business
in Nigeria and the need to take-up the case as a flagship issue to address the myriad of issues
investors face in getting products approved and delivered to the market.

CONTRIBUTIONS/COMMENTS FROM PARTICIPANTS: SESSION 1

Mr. Gbadebo asked what we must do to ensure farmers get value for their money. He also stressed
the importance of improving technologies in post-harvest and cold chain management.

Mr. Olusola lamented the lack of sustainable polices as a result of changes in government that do
not allow continuity and strategic implementation. He emphasized the need for sustainability in
government policies such that established farmers who are assured of market during one
government are not at a loss when there is a change in government.

Mr Francis Isakpere from Department of Public Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife:

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 How can the bottlenecks experienced in product registration and approval with NAFDAC and
SON be addressed?
 How can issues with the land act be addressed, specifically, the rigours of acquiring certificate of
occupancy?
 What is being done with regards to policy distortions to make the average Nigerian interested in
and embrace agriculture?

Mr. Hameed responded to some of the key issues raised as follows:

 Land act: NIRSAL may need to organize a “land acquisition for agriculture” conference to
facilitate the drafting of a document that can provide solutions to issues around theland act.
Similar to the PLAN symposium, the conference should bring together varied actors and players
from Academia, MDAs, DP and others.

 Sustainability in government policy: Millions of farmers can be helped through NIRSAL but
individual approach will not work but rather a clustered value chain approach that focuses on
organized groups of farmers and other actors. When key actors are in a group, it is easy to
tackle issues of input, mechanization and harvesting in a holistic manner.

Dr. Bello described the role being played by NABG to ensure that private sector interest is captured
in the development of the document “The Green Alternative to Agricultural Policy Promotion”. There
is a plan to have NAGB become the catalyst for fast-tracking implementation. There is also the need
to address the fundamentals of developing costed implementation framework and come-up with
solutions to three key areas which include: land, financing issues and agribusiness input and services.
The structural solution NAGB is proposing include:

 Promoting the concept of cooperative farming where an individual farmer is a member of a

larger organization. This will provide solutions to some structural issues and help to shift from
subsistence to commercial farming.

 Market price stabilization (to ensure shared prosperities).

Honourable Munir Danagundi, member of the House of Representatives from Kano State stated
that his constituency is a hub for most of the fruits and vegetables sent to Kano market. He described
and lauded the positive changes in the agriculture sector under the leadership of the former Minister
of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina as progressive and noted that there is continuity in the
Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) with a focus on more detailed planning by the current
regime. He stated that the key challenges usually occur when policies are not backed by law. He also
stressed the need to examine the agricultural research institute closely to ensure that research data
supported by evidence-based research are being generated and presented to the legislature for
review and approval to harness the gains.

PANEL DISCUSSION: SESSION 2

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Crating and Packaging: Mr. Ahmed Alex Omah, IOPN

Mr. Omah, General Secretary, Institute of Packaging Nigeria (IOPN) stressed the importance of
packaging, linking it to the safety of the product and the ease of handling. He continued by strongly
highlighting the importance of enforcing polices by the government to protect and support those
who have invested heavily in the supply chain of the industry. However, he stated that these policies
would need to remain sustainable and not disrupted by a change in government. He stressed that in
developed countries a lot has been invested in educating people on food packaging. However, he
lamented that this is not the case in Nigeria. He highlighted the following issues:

 A major challenge of packaging technology in Nigeria is the fact that no institution in Nigeria
actually offers packaging as a course of study, and current players happen to find themselves
there with inadequate knowledge.
 Despite the availability of improved packaging solutions, the use of traditional packaging
materials such as jute bags and raffia baskets that do not really protect the product/produce
still persist in Nigeria.
 The cost of alternative packaging such as ventilated plastic crating is higher compared to the
traditional raffia baskets. This is compounded by lack of structure for introducing crates into the
supply chain due to people’s resistance to change and lack of a system for retrieval of crates
which may limit their returnable and reusable advantage..
 The need for sustainability in government policies to protect investors who want to be active
players in the supply chain domain through development of crating solutions. This should be
complemented by effective and close collaboration with the transport sector to facilitate
delivery of produce to end users.

Food Safety Standards and Regulations: Mrs Margaret Eshiett, SON

Mrs Margaret Eshiett, SON, Director Business support services detailed some recent decisions taken
by SON in linking standards to trade. This decision became important following the discovery that
most standards used locally were detached from what was obtainable globally. Secondly, that these
standards were too detached and technical and so there is a need to simplify and make them more
user-friendly, particularly for farmers. She further stated that simple, less technical, friendly, pictorial
easy to use codes of practices have been developed and are intended to get to farmers in their local
languages. She noted that for there to be market access and product acceptability globally, it
became imperative for coding as in the case where SON developed codes for pineapple exactly the
way the international market wants it.

As the Head of CODEX for Nigeria for the last 15 years, Mrs Eshiett was able to share her experience
on the issues of regulations. In the repositioning of SON, she now oversees business support services
and trade/codex. She articulated some key positions of SON and current activities as follows:

 In ensuring that product is acceptable, quality, packaging, safety and nutrition is important.
 The focus of SON is to create market access by ensuring that products from Nigeria meets
standards for international trades, this is key to addressing the issue of foreign exchange Nigeria
is currently facing.

13
  SON is currently working with SMEs to ensure they meet set standards. SON has identified the
need to simplify overly technical standards to a new format which includes pictures Plans are
also underway to interpret standards and have language translations (to Yoruba, Hausa, Arabic,
Igbo, and other local languages) to further enhance user friendliness.
 The need to form partnerships to promote wide circulation of standards so that people are
aware of available standards, especially in the fruit and vegetable sector.
 In addition to standards, there is the need to have codes of practice which is used to work with
the stakeholders in a sector specific approach. SON is currently working with agronomists to
ensure that farmers have the right seed qualities. SON is working with the Nigeria Agricultural
Seeds Council to certify seeds and register seed sellers. There is need for a system to register
the seed seller, which SON cannot handle directly but will achieve by collaborating with the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture. The current structure is too loose to ensure quality and standard
procedure is introduced.
 The next phase is to link SON’s activities with global requirements in ensuring that production is
being carried out appropriately by focusing on issues of soil testing to meet requirements for
food products, especially FFV. The soil mapping completed by the Ministry of Agriculture is
commendable. Nigeria is linked to Codex and ISO and there is exchange of standards with
countries that are doing well which SON adapted to Nigeria situation.
 Transportation and storage is a key challenge in FFV handling and SON colleagues in quarantine
service are working to address it.
 Raffia Basket is a non-compliant packaging material-the market requires plastic crates. There
have been certified standards for plastic crates which some companies have met and are being
promoted for use in Nigeria.
 The issue of compliance in the supply of the plastics is a challenge,. FMARD has registered
farmers and traceability is key to identify farmers who are producing fruits and vegetables.
 Issues of cold room standards are also key and a lot of the cold rooms in use have not met the
standard for operating cold rooms, noting that none of them have SOPs. They have no system to
monitor temperature, no thermostatic system and most of them are not aware of standards for
cold rooms and the codes of practice.
 SON develops the codes but does not necessarily implement it. Codes for pineapple are
available and sample could be collected from Mrs Eshiett.

Food Safety Compliance: Mrs. Promise Ogbonna, NAFDAC

Mrs. Ogbonna stated the mandate and objectives of NAFDAC and that the current process involved
in registering a product requires the manufacturer to have at least five production rooms, finished
products store, packaging material store, cloak room and administrative block. She then reiterated
that food is a delicate commodity and clarified that NAFDAC is not essentially focused on fresh
produce but rather on processed food products. NAFDAC serves as one-stop-centre to ensure that
imported food products to Nigeria meet the standard quality and food safety requirements. She
informed the participants that provisions have now been made for start-ups under the Kitchen and
Cottage industry registration for fresh fruits and vegetables only. Fresh fruits are among products
that can have minimum requirement of 2 rooms (compared to minimum of five rooms for other
products classified as high risk). Under this scheme, small start-ups could come together and register
as an entity and that there is a guideline for the kitchen and cottage industries. Temperature

14
 controlled products such as fish, meat and dairy are not classified under this category but fruits
belong to it. One other area of concern for NAFDAC is that Nigerian farmers are not educated on
pesticide usage and there may be residual effects in products such as beans. NAFDAC at the moment
remains concerned about the pesticides regulation as a result of the ban on importation of some
agricultural food produce such as cowpeas by the EU.

NAFDAC sees food packaging materials compliance to food safety standards as a problem. Apart
from packaging materials sometimes costing more than the product, they are sometimes sources of
contaminants to food products and this creates barriers in product registration.

Farming of FFVs: Mr Bola Oyeleke, TOPAN

Mr. Oyeleke stressed the importance of educating farmers in order to change their mind-set,
perspective and attitude towards adopting new and improved technologies and farm practices.
According to Mr. Oyeleke, poor farm practices lead to poor results and high post-harvest losses and that
pre-harvest practices are as important because adequate attention to pre-harvest practices such as land
preparation and adequate irrigation makes for less post-harvest losses. The former Minister of
Agriculture introduced AC Tractors to reinforce that agriculture is a business. However, the land
cultivation practice is poor and has no sustainable irrigation system (farmers buy water in tanks).

Some of the issues he raised include:

 Difficulty in identifying who the real farmers are. In Germany a farmer needs about 100 acres of
land to be recognized as a farmer. In Nigeria, there is no standard for identifying a farmer,
everyone is a farmer, we don’t have the market and we do not consider the yield during planting.
 The need to move from subsistence farming to recognition of farming as a business. Agriculture
needs to be recognized as a business
 The need to develop innovative approaches to change the perception of the farmer from the
traditional cultivating and crop management techniques to adoption of new and improved good
agricultural practices (GAP). For instance a farmer may not know how to plant improved quality
seeds for most fruits and vegetables. A lot of farmers still prefer to plant the traditional tomato
seedlings compared to adoption of greenhouse tomatoes.
 There is no clear market access plan, a lot of farmers focus on obtaining fertilizer to improve yield
without consideration for the market that can absorb the improved yield. This contributes to
increased post-harvest losses for most of the produce.
 The few number of tomato processing plants in Nigeria contributes to reduced market potential.
The volume of output of current tomato processing plants is not able to meet current consumer
demands in sufficient quantity to ensure competitive price.
 Issues of infrastructure for farming are also some challenges to farmers. Current land cultivation
practice is poor, no irrigation system and sometimes farmers have to buy water in tanks.
 Overall, Mr. Oyeleke stressed that involving farmers in agriculture business is the key to making
change. This can be achieved through sensitization to change current perspectives and also
through training on innovative approaches.

15
Agriculture Policy: Dr. Adeyinka Onabolu

Dr Onabolu, Senior Advisor on food security and nutrition, office of the Honourable Minister of Agriculture
informed the gathering of the new Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) just released which is expected to
run from 2016-2020. She stressed that agriculture needs to be linked to other sectors in order to achieve set
objectives. She shared the thinking of government on issues of cooperatives and proper financing to pull
farmers out of poverty. She listed the priorities of the Agricultural Promotion policy (2016-2020) and the
principles that will guide the implementation:

The APP Priorities:

 Food and nutrition security

 Import substitution- developing local alternatives to save Nigeria from food import to reduce reliance
on foreign exchange and develop the agricultural sector to the point where Nigeria is able to export and
earn income
 Job creation especially to get the youth interested in agriculture in the area of production, processing
and marketing.
 Economic diversification

The APP guiding principles include:

 Agriculture must be seen as a business. To achieve this there must be a system that helps to meet the
demand of the market by aggregating produce from small-holder farmers. This will require strong
stakeholders’ engagement that describes the roles and responsibilities of each player along the
agriculture value chain.

 Crop prioritization: another guiding principle is that of prioritizing crops - some for internal
consumption and some for exports. The horticultural value chain focus is from 2018.

 Doing agriculture with climate smart goals such that information is made available to farmers on the
climate change situation in their locality to guide the choice of crops the farmers will plant and what can
be done to reduce the effect of climate change.

 Nutrition sensitive agriculture: the overriding goal of agriculture is nutrition, and the agriculture sector
cannot keep producing crops that will not improve or affect the health of the people. From pesticide
residue, to other issues, the agriculture sector needs to liaise with other sectors to achieve the goal of
postharvest loss reduction. As a first step, there has been a review of costing of the agriculture sector to
ensure that every issue has been covered. This will ensure that cost needs are known and clearly
defined, and review documents could be used to facilitate resource mobilization from multiple
stakeholders to meet the need. The national Food and Nutrition Policy is also a document that will
drive nutrition sensitive agriculture. A strategy has been developed and currently being costed, there is
support for the FMARD in this area developing capacity for budgeting for the NPFN to ensure effective
budgeting from 2017.

She shared her thoughts on the need to ensure production of quality products that can compete
internationally and the rethinking of research priorities to ensure it goes beyond just academic purposes
but with a focus to provide solutions to meet needs.

16
Prof Aworh comments: He is glad that PLAN is an integrated forum that has taken key stakeholders’ on
board. Ensuring farmers get return on investment is very critical. To address the issues on impactful
research, he shared the summary of research conducted in 1990 (Annex 3)

Research/Academia: Dr Gloria Elemo, FIIRO

Dr. Elemo expressed her delight that research was considered important in regards to issues of post-
harvest losses. She revealed that Nigeria has enough data on research but a lack of coordination made it
impossible to maximize these data. She addressed the critical focus Nigeria needs for reducing
postharvest loss. She articulated the following positions:

 Research data generation and use: FIIRO has conducted research in the area of fruits and
vegetables in the last 6 decades. To say Nigeria does not have large volume of research data on
postharvest management in Nigeria is wrong. However, research data in Nigeria has not been
coordinated and used to achieve impact.
 Developing appropriate technology for FFV-new product line versus improving indigenous
procedure: diversifying the economy is a renewed call in Nigeria, agriculture will play a huge role in
the Nigerian economy and the fruit and vegetables production and processing will remain critical to
success. Challenges faced by diverse groups calls for strategizing in the area of process technology
for fruit and vegetables or development of indigenous procedure for fruit and vegetables handling
to ensure Nigeria is visible in the international market. To produce first, consume for food and
nutrition security and then export to earn income.
 Packaging has not been a central focus: recommendation from the PLAN symposium should include
the need for packaging to be giving a critical consideration. Biodegradable plastic should not be
pushed aside. FIRRO is currently conducting research in the area of incorporating clay into
polyethylene. FIIRO has a packaging research niche for as part of its main mandate.
 The need for technology transfer: FIIRO is attempting to transfer over 250 technologies developed
in the last 60 years. Technology transfer in terms of training is important and FIIRO has a success
story of over 500,000 entrepreneurs who have been trained by FIIRO, with over 40% setting-up
business. Extension work is underway to ensure more technology adoption. Techniques that exist
for FFV technology in the universities should be researched and aligned with government policies in
the area of job creation.
 Genome research: there is the need for improved technology in genomics, FIIRO is assessing
metabolism of GMO and considering introducing it into the market by working with farmers.
 Research to improve quality of dried tomatoes: FIIRO has developed six tomato based products to
absorb excess tomatoes. Since 2007, FIIRO has been able to convert tomatoes into dried forms
using selective wavelength solar cabinet drying. The dried tomatoes can then be reconstituted into
normal tomatoes (with high colour retention). There are other approaches but have challenges of
discolouration. There will be a need for more research to address some of the challenges of
organoleptic properties loss.
 Quality of equipment fabricated by FIIRO: there is a challenge with finishing for most of the
equipment fabricated. Research should concentrate on improving existing design to improve farm-
gate processing for tomatoes. FIIRO trying to set up a plant in Kano and working with Alvan Blanc.

Dr. Elemo encouraged working with the Universities, and working in partnership, as “we cannot work in
isolation”. She commended Mr. Larry Umunna for linking FIIRO with the Council for Scientific and

17
Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa which has led to collaborative research sharing. She called for
researchers in academia to conduct research to target end users and not for promotion.

Nutrition: Dr Adeyinka Onabolu, GAIN

Dr Onabolu emphasized nutrition as a major objective for GAIN to help the general populace get the
recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables for required nutritional and health benefits. She
noted that adequate intake of fresh fruits and vegetables have been indicated to help reduce/manage
obesity in women, serve as a good anti-oxidant and help the body detoxify due to its high fibre content.
Key benefits of FFV she highlighted include Prevention of osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases
(CVDs) while some of the compounds found in FFV protect against cancer.

CONTRIBUTIONS/COMMENTS FROM PARTICIPANTS: SESSION 2

Professor Aworh emphasized that research should be geared towards making impact. He reminded us
of a case study on dried tomatoes in 1990 and asked what Nigeria needs to address post-harvest loss.

Mr. Ijewere emphasized the importance of recycling as a way to manage plastics. He stressed strongly
the need for policy makers to be practical and in tune with the realities of the Nigerian entrepreneur
and that efforts should be made in order to adequately help and support him.

Mr. James Rusty noted that the area of ICT should be explored to provide phones for farmers to
monitor market prices, teach better farming methods and help them solve some of their problems such
as disease infestation.

Honourable Munir Danagundu of the House of Representatives stressed the need for collaboration
between research institutions.

Dr. David Oladipo noted the importance of improved seeds and breeding to boast production.

Mr. Richard Ogundele talked about the Eko beef programme which taught Good Handling practices, the
establishment of packing houses and a short code where people can go to get information on market
prices.

Mr. Ayodele Otaiku emphasized the need to include farmers in discussions such as this to avoid it being
too structured and academic. Also stressed the importance of sustainable polices and collaborations.

Mr. Adede of USAID/NEXXT project stated that investment must be demand-driven; someone must
want it for it to be feasible.

Mrs. Eshiett impressed the importance of traceability to manage contamination and that Extension
workers are very important and the need for industries to invest in them.

Dr. Elemo stated the fact that less than 1% of our GDP is being linked to R&D was unacceptable and that
Nigerian industries should patronise local research institutions.

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Closing Remarks by Dr. Francis Aminu GAIN Nigeria, Country Director

Dr. Aminu stated that the presence of participants showed their interest as members of the alliance to
reduce postharvest losses in fresh fruits and vegetables in Nigeria. He affirmed that the discussions
were rich and able to elicit recommendations for policy makers, donors, industries, researchers and
regulatory agencies. Part of the recommendations will go into the design of PLAN. He emphasized the
need to go further to influence changes in policies, regulations, laws, practices, beliefs and attitudes to
provide nutritious foods in Nigeria. GAIN is a leader in generating the same dynamism to ensure that
the farmer is reached through the value chain. “All hands must be on deck”.

Dr. Aminu stated “There have been appeals to our conscience to think of Mallam Rabiu and his wife in
research, business and policy formulation”. He congratulated Professor Aworh for witnessing the
result of his 40 years of postharvest research, thanked all panellists and participants. He informed the
audience that GAIN is already partnering with FIIRO to ensure that research is taken forward.

ANNEX 1

INDIVIDUAL RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PARTICIPANTS:

Individual participants at the symposium made their recommendations as follows:

Richard Ogundele GEMS4: Strong policy required on handling, packing/packaging storage,

marketing distribution (transportation) and sales of fresh perishables in the Nigerian market space.
This will facilitate emergence of Packing Houses, quality and standards use of appropriate handling
materials and traceability in the supply chain. A lot of awareness via social media, electronic and
point as well as IEC materials to sensitize the target audience on the need to reduce post-harvest loss
and increase nutritional value via improved supply chain operations

Dr F.B. Olajide-Taiwo: Awareness and sensitization campaigns, enforcement taskforce to enhance

compliance and work on attitudes towards change and incorporate the raffia weavers to avoid job
losses and provide affordable crates

Okoyo Enimie Mercy: Scholarships should be made available to encourage young scientists
interested in developing new technologies in breeding and plant biotechnology.

Ayodele Otaiku AratiBiotech: Develop an implementation framework for Post-harvest.

1. Focus on input-agricultural products -organic fertilizers, bio-pesticides, growth regulator.
Benefits:
a. Less pesticides will be needed for cultivation
b. Zero residues on crops
c. Improve soil organic matter
d. Consistent yield/hectare

Dr (Mrs) Oluyinka Benedicta Adewoyin: Government involvement at every level is important in the
value chain by providing trainings and capacity building, infrastructure, networking and supervision.
Follow up and monitoring of projects for effective delivery is a necessity.

19
 Dr. O. M. Olusunde: There is need for more education to create awareness and stronger
collaborations among stakeholders for reducing postharvest losses. Need for workable and stable
policies to drive the ideas and build mechanisms to evaluate progress and difficulties to improve the
system.

Olagbaju, Zonal Coordinator, NSPRI, Ibadan Office: Collaborations with all relevant agencies and
NIRSAL, with the national mandate into post-harvest should be part of the PLAN projects. The
project can function with establishment of platforms on the commodities to address all value chain
performances. SON can reach out to the NIRSAL to propagate their standard ideas on commodities
for easy recall; some stakeholders do come to NIRSAL for their needs most of the time.

Dr F.B Olajide-Taiwo, NIHORT Ibadan: Awareness campaigns and sensitization workshops should be
organized for producers, transporters, marketers and consumers. Incorporation of extension
personnel- they understand the farmer’s language. An enforcement task force committee should be
set up to enhance compliance and work on resistance to change. What happens to the raffia
weavers? We must not create a problem of joblessness while trying to solve packaging problems.
Efforts should be made to accommodate them.

 Web pages should be developed where new entrants into agribusiness could get the needed
information.
 There should be opportunities to meet with various groups in the agribusiness value chain to
disseminate useful information
 GAIN should collaborate with all relevant stakeholders, including the Nigerian Stored Products
Research Institute (NSPRI).
 On the promotion of packaging and transportation materials, the issue of policy formulation in terms
of legislation and enforcement should be taken into consideration.
 Government should adequately promote the necessary infrastructure to reduce post-harvest losses.
 Agribusinesses with power challenges should discuss with NIRSAL.
 The Agribusiness value chain should be visible, classified and grouped
 Crates should be affordable in terms of cost and also profitable.
 The need to be patient to promote change in attitude.
 Agricultural Extension Agents should be empowered to educate farmers on packaging and general
post-harvest losses.
 There is a need for intellectual property rights for developers among researchers in Nigeria
 More collaboration with finance partners is needed to ensure farmer access to finance
 Research arm to work with the field actors based on identified challenges (Packaging
house/crating/storage)
 Collaborate with NIHORT especially the Postharvest Unit-Product Development Programme for fruit
and vegetable processing
 Training and Nutrition awareness among the population.
 Enforcement of standards and quality factors should focus on the demand end, to encourage
investments in the service market and at the supply end.
 Public research institutions are becoming irrelevant and are being replaced by private institutions.
Public research institutions should depend on market institutions for funding and relevance

20
 Discourage the use of baskets in tomato packaging. Adequate processing of tomatoes to reduce
post-harvest losses
 SON should organize trainings for stakeholders (Universities, agencies etc.) and other trainers who
will be able to pass information to farmers.
 Standards for other products should be included as well as packaging e.g. Mushrooms.
 Experts from universities researching horticultural products in particular, should be actively involved
in government policies.
 Funding for home based research by government, industries and farmers.
 Regular forums between farmers and researches would go a long way to solve farmer’s problems.
 Policies to control pesticides import, sale and use in the country.

Chideage Manend: Post-harvest loss is crucial hence the need to improve processing plants. Plastic
containers should be adopted for tomatoes packaging.

Omolola Etukudo. Kabba College of Agric Ahmadu Bello University: Agriculture/ Postharvest Biology
and Technology should be encouraged at the grassroots. Agriculture should be made friendly from
the primary, secondary, tertiary. Information on the SON/CODEX/NAFDAC should be actively
disseminated.

Ayemi Oladetunde: There should be a specific drive policy on production, processing and marketing
inclusive transportation methods, with proactive implementation methods andproactive
implementation by enforcement agencies.

Promise Ogbonna Food safety Division. Abuja NAFDAC: Small scale food processors should form
cooperatives to put in place the basic unit operation/processing centres (drying) etc. to reduce or
minimize the regulatory requirements.

Baale Obadina M.O-Arogunjo Town Ewekoro LGA, Ogun State: It is a known fact that 80% of the
farmers in Nigeria are small scale farmers while loans do not get to 30% of them, therefore
collaborations to form cooperatives are important for access to finance.

Mr Femi Alayande (Farmer): For the program to be fully implemented there is a need to bring
together all the local farms into a group to educate them.

Adesola Mso Zion Farms: Please let the researchers think also in the line of the “Milk- Yoghurt”
Philosophy. If there is no spoilage in milk, yoghurt will not and cannot be produced. Where tomato
inadvertently gets spoilt, what can we get out of the waste. The question of waste is enormous; let’s
get products out of them as well.

Yusuff Abordium (Farmer): I am a small scale farmer and recommend that small scale farmers be
adequately reached.

Dr. D.O Ladipo, CENRAD Consulting ltd, Ibadan Nigeria: Tomato as a crop indeed has major
problems in Nigeria. Transportation of crops to far marketing centres constitutes the clog. To reduce
distance challenges and spoilage, we need to ensure that on a parallel with physically solving the
problem, we encourage breeding in the conventional way to produce appropriate genotypes for our

21
varied ecologies. Better varieties with adequate cuticle characteristic that can have longer shelf life
will constitute success in this arena.

Igwe Helen Chizobam: To stop or prevent post-harvest losses, I recommend that the industries be
moved closer to the farms. But if that is not possible, a generator for power, a pot grinder and
firewood from the villages can be used to blend and boil tomatoes, and other perishable farm
produce to reduce their moisture before further processing in industries in the cities

John Akinwale:
1. Clear and specific requirements from NAFDAC for products registrations
2. Needs to know export standards and compliances for U.S market.

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 ANNEX 2

TRANSCRIPT OF MR. EMMANUEL IJEWERE SPEECH- SETTING THE TONE

Box 1: Case-scenario of Postharvest loss-reduced return on investment by “Mallam Rabiu”

“To set the tone, I will ask you to travel with me and we will all arrive at a village called Garun
Mallam outside Kano, they are reputed to be the largest producers of tomatoes. March 18th
2016, as you get to the gate of the huge farm you will see the stacks of baskets and you ask what
these baskets are for and you are told it is for those who wish to buy tomatoes. It is like a toll
gate, if you are serious you will buy the basket to prove that you are there for serious business, a
basket is 400 naira. I bought the basket and need to fill it up, Mallam and his wife, I want this
filled-up, how much, then Mallam said 300 naira. Now I don’t know how you will take it but I
knew how I took it, I thought he did not understand the English language, to buy a basket for 400
naira and for him to fill it up with his tomatoes for 300. I said how much you tell me, he said 300
naira, too much? My conscience won’t allow me to negotiate further. I said let me see whether it
is true, he filled-up the basket and I said I will buy some more baskets but then went into the
farm and I saw on one side, a sea; a red-sea of tomatoes cut into two and spread out as far as the
eye could see. Why, they will spoil? I then saw about 20 baskets filled-up, why are these once
here? Motto no come answered Mallam. That is Mallam and his wife’s story, that is the story of
poverty, that is the result of hard work, that is hopelessness. To set a tone means to do what will
bring smile to Mallam and his wife in March 2017. The story extends more since the case-farm
was affected by tuta absoluta months after. To Mallam Rabiu and his wife, he made nothing,
they have done all the hard work, whether it was the weather that destroyed the produce, or
people from city who come to cheat them, or the basket makers. Mallam remains in poverty
despite his hard work. To set the tone means to ask how do we change the situation of Mallam?
There is need to visit in our mind Mallam Rabiu and commit to use our intellectual know-how in
combination with everybody else to make him smile in 2017. One person cannot do it, there are
stop gaps to be dealt with”.

Box 2: Case-scenario of postharvest loss during transportation-reduced market value

“I left the farm and moved to Bichi market in Kano, so much tomatoes and it priced from 4000 to
2500 naira. I bought 120 baskets of tomatoes to fill up 2 J5 vans with instruction that the Vans
should not move until late at night. Tomatoes were stacked very professionally into the vans.
Then there were tales of armed robbers, traffic build up, road blocks that delayed the arrival of
the produce at the market. The harvested tomatoes at the breaker stage has now fully
deteriorated with reduced market value”.

23
 ANNEX 3

ROLE OF RESEARCH-IS RESEARCH CONDUCTED FOR IMPACT?

Is research conducted for impact? Professor O. C. Aworh

In the 1990s, a research study was conducted and published in the highly ranked Journal of
Food Science and Technology. The research focused on the conversion of dried tomatoes to
paste and sauce and the role that drying could play in addressing some of the issues of
postharvest loss The research studied solar drying, forced air drying with cabinet drying and
drum drying technologies. Consumers also participated in the sensory evaluation of the sauces
produced. Some of the consumers noted that drying may not produce the best output that will
meet the standard of sauces in Nigeria. Drying helps prevent deterioration that can be
experienced between farm and factory. Years passed by and what was considered not feasible
at that time is now being practiced by the tomato paste industry. The reconstituted product
may not be 100% comparable to paste made from fresh tomatoes which can be easily
discriminated during sensory evaluation, but it is not a bad product. It meets the practical
requirements and it will be safe and low cost.

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 ANNEX 4

THE 1975 UN RESOLUTION ON HIGH POST-HARVEST LOSSES

(Professor Aworh-as part of his opening moderating comment-Discussion Session I)

The US Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger, in an address presented at the 7th Special Session of the
United Nations General Assembly on September 1, 1975 in New York stated “Another priority in the
poorest countries must be to reduce the tragic waste of losses after harvest from inadequate storage,
transportation and pest control. There are often simple and inexpensive techniques to resolve these
problems. Investment in such areas as better storage and pesticides can have rapid and substantial
impact on the world’s food supply; indeed, the savings could match the total of the food aid being given
around the world. Therefore we urge that the Food and Agricultural Organization, in conjunction with
the UN Development Program and the World Bank, set a goal of cutting in half these post-harvest losses
by 1985, and develop a comprehensive program to this end.”

Resolution of United Nations General Assembly in New York, September 19, 1975.

“ The further reduction of postharvest losses in developing countries should be undertaken as a matter
of priority, with a view or reaching at least 50% reduction by 1985. All countries and competent
international organizations should cooperate financially and technically in the effort to achieve this
objective.”

This resolution drew the attention of the highest levels of governments and donor organizations around
the world to the problem of food losses, and the contribution that reducing these losses can make to
the improvement of the nutritional status of the poor. The resolution was realistic; it recognized that
food loses will never be reduced to zero but called for efforts to reduce sharply the high levels of losses
that presently occur.

Note the focus on improving food supply in developing countries at the highest policy level.

A result of the 1975 UN resolution was that many governments and other agencies made it a policy to
include a postharvest food loss component in their foreign aid programs. The US Agency for
international Development (USAID) initiated a number of programs including commissioning a report
from the US National Academy of Science. This report was the Standard reference in the field for many
years and is still a valuable resource.

Governments in the European Union, Japan, Canada and Australia, and a number of nongovernmental
donor organizations also initiated postharvest food loss programmes. Many good programmes were
put in place, and a substantial reduction in food loss was achieved in some developing countries, but
regrettably not in Nigeria. Why was this so and what lessons can we learn?

According to Emeritus Professor Malcolm Bourne of Cornell University, a former consultant for USAID
and the FAO and one of the major players in the golden era of postharvest food loss reduction research,
the postharvest loss situation today is that:

1. Scientists who carried out those postharvest activities in the field have retired as have the policy
makers of that generation. I should add that indeed many have passed on (The big names for fruits
and vegetables include Morris, Kader, Brecht of the University of California Davis; Hall and Wills of
the University of Florida, Gainesville and for roots and tubers especially yam, Coursey of the

25
 Tropical Products Institute, London to mention a few). Of course, we also had a viable postharvest
programme at the University of Ibadan then.

2. Most of the excellent programmes of the late 1970s and the 1980s have expired and have not been
renewed. Policy has moved away from the initial focus on preserving raw agricultural commodities
to include all activities from harvest to consumption with greater attention given to processing
technologies that convert raw products into ready-to-eat foods.. In effect, we have moved from an
integrated system approach i.e. from farm to fork to emphasizing processing techniques that
convert raw product to ready-to-eat foods.

3. The programmes that are still active have generally shifted emphasis from reducing losses to help
the malnourished, to improving the quality and safety of foods exported from developing countries
to developed countries.

4. It seems that postharvest loss has fallen off the policy agenda of most governments and donor
agencies.

Recommendations from my Inaugural Lecture delivered on January 6, 1994 entitled “After the
Harvest” and published in 2005 in the book, University of Ibadan Inaugural Lectures Volume 1
(1992-1997), Ibadan University Press Publishing House, 333-348 were as follows:

1. Farm workers should be properly educated on the benefits of careful harvesting perishable fruits,
vegetables and roots and tubers. These commodities must not be treated in the same manner as
more durable crops such as grains.

2. Immediately after harvest, fresh fruits and vegetables should be subjected to a number of market
preparatory or packinghouse operations for extended postharvest life, including sorting and
grading, washing, curing, precooling, waxing, chemical disinfection and/or disinfestation and
packaging. The lack of packaging houses where perishable produce can be sorted, washed,
precooled, chemically-treated and packaged contributes to the high postharvest losses in fruits and
vegetables in Nigeria.

3. One of the most important operations is precooling, which is the rapid removal of heat from fresh
produce immediately after harvest. Three techniques are commonly used namely, hydro-cooling or
cooling with cold water, forced-air cooling and the more sophisticated and expensive vacuum
cooling.

4. Ineffective packaging using traditional raffia baskets, jute bags and other materials that offer little
protection to perishable fruits and vegetable, is largely responsible for the high losses in these
commodities during transportation. The use of improved packaging methods such as vented
wooden containers and stack/nest polypropylene crates would reduce transportation losses.

5. Efficient distribution and marketing of fresh fruits and vegetables also depend to a large extent on
transportation. Poor transportation methods and transit environments aggravate postharvest
losses of perishable produce in Nigeria. The poor condition of our roads, especially rural roads,
contributes to high postharvest food losses. Priority attention should be paid to the construction
and maintenance of all-weather rural feeder roads with emphasis on increasing the accessibility of
food producing areas.

26
 6. A national standard gauge rail system would take some pressure off road transportation for
distribution of agriculture commodities.

**************************************************************************

27
 ANNEX 5: ATTENDANCE LIST

DESIGNATIO PHONE
S/N NAME ORGANISATION EMAIL ADDRESS
N NUMBER
1 James Eason Rusty GCCA Consultant Kenya rustyEason@gmail.com
254731568845
2 Edeme Kelikume Connect Rail CEO 07055000005 edeme.kelikume@connectrail.
Services Limited, net
Lagos
3 Ahmed Omah Institute of Packaging General 09030003903 ahmed.omah@iopnigeria.org
Nigeria (IOPN) Secretary
4 Dr Jide Adedeji Easy Sauces Nigeria MD/CEO 07034328483 jideadediji@yahoo.com
Ltd, Lagos
5 Dr Tony Bello Nigeria Agribusiness Director 08037094979 tonybello@ymail.com
Group (NABG) General
Aliyu
6 Hameed Nigerian Incentive- MD/CEO 08035925522 a.hameed@nirsal.com
based Risk-sharing
System for
Agricultural Lending
(NIRSAL)
7 Bola Oyeleke Tomatoes and CEO 07030090366 contacttopan@gmail.com
Orchard Producers
Assoc. of Nigeria
(TOPAN), Abuja
8 Dr Adeyinka GAIN/Office of the Senior Advisor 08034002756 aonabolu@gainhealth.org
Onabolu Honourable Minister on Food
of Agriculture and Security and
Rural Development Nutrition
9 Dr. Gloria Elemo FIIRO DG/CEO 08033469894 gloelemo@yahoo.com
10 Mrs Margaret SON-Standards Ag Director 08023179774 megesciett@yahoo.com
Eshiett Organisation of Business
Nigeria Support
Services, Trade/
Codex
11 Prof O.C Aworh University of Ibadan Professor 08033509860 ocawo51@yahoo.co.uk
12 Mr Emmanuel Best Foods Chairman/Coor 08034030012 eiijewere@yahoo.com
Ijewere Group/NABG dinator
13 Dr Augustine GAIN, Nigeria Project Manager 08035052634 AOkoruwa@gainhealth.org
Okoruwa
14 Kayode Obasa Ministry of Budget & Director 07031211109 kayodeobasa@yahoo.com
National Planning
15 Teale Yalch GAIN, USA Associate +1 559 2804047 tyalch@gainhealth.org
16 Roberta Lauretti- GAIN, USA Senior 202 559 8502 rlbernhard@gainhealth.org
Bernhard Technical
Specialist
17 Onyeagba Ekene GAIN, Nigeria PLAN Program 08162854316 eonyeagba@gainhealth.org
Admin Assistant
18 Oluwatosin Osho Tomato Jos, Financial 07086895168 oluwatosin@tomatojos.net
Nassarawa Controller
19 Edward Vivian Coolins Foodbank COF 08064263618 coolinsfoodbank@gmail.com
Ltd,
20 Olaoluwa University of PhD Candidate +27789734000 ayanfe4me@gmail.com
Olarenwaju KwaZulu Natal, RSA
21 Dr, Francis Aminu GAIN, Nigeria Country 08034177168 faminu@gainhealth.org
Director

28
 DESIGNATIO PHONE
S/N NAME ORGANISATION EMAIL ADDRESS
N NUMBER
22 Olagbaju Akintoye National Stored Zonal 08033479598 toyeolagbaju@yahoo.co.uk
Products Research Coordinator
Institute (NSPRI),
Ibadan
23 Ogundele Bukola NSPRI Head of 08132109444 bukkyma2001@yahoo.com
Outreach
Nigeria
24 Oyelakin Oyeniyi NSPRI Food Scientist 08034237210 oyelakin_mo@yahoo.com
(Research
Officer)
25 Alade Oluwatosin A NSPRI Agric Engineer 08067611940 toosinalade@yahoo.com
26 Igwe Chizobam NIHORT Research 07037927001 Igwe.chizobam@yahoo.com
Helen Officer II
27 Ajayi Temitope ATFARM Consultant 08034895905 topessng@yahoo.com
(Farming)
28 James Isreal NIHORT Research 08138597950 jamesisrael@hotmail.co.uk
Officer
29 Aina Oluwaseun NIHORT Senior Research 08032665182 seunaina1@yahoo.com
Officer
30 Ayeni Oladehinde Food Farm News Publisher 08023529820 foodfarmnews@gmail.com
31 Amao I.O NIHORT Researcher 08035796464 ifeluv@yahoo.com
32 Adeoye I. B NIHORT Researcher 08030778368 Iyabs2005@yahoo.com
33 Sakpere O.R Obafemi Awolowo Researcher 08037193190 rsakpere@yahoo.com
University, Ile-Ife
34 Richard Ogundele DFID- GEMS4 Group 08033096092 richardogundele@gmail.com
Wholesale/Retail Intervention
Project Manager-
Agribusiness
35 Prof Jane Ambuko University of Nairobi Senior Lecturer +2540722- ambuko@yahoo.com
676458
36 Adeyemi D.O Federal College of Lecturer 07038953146 adelani.olusegun@yahoo.com
Forestry
37 Cynthia Owoh Rapporteur Rapporteur 08185759152 owoh.cynthia@yahoo.com
38 Dr Willis Owino Jomo Kenyatta Associate +254723006204 willis.owino@gmail.com
University of Agric Professor
& Technology,
Nairobi, Kenya
39 Geraldine Njumbe World Vegetable Research +237675264887 geraldine.njumbe@worldveg.o
Centre Assistant rg
40 Dr. O.I Lawal FUNAAB Abeokuta Agronomist 07033802750 lawalisiaq@gmail.com
Lecturer Crop
nutrition
41 Dr. Lydia Babatola Department of Senior Lecturer 08033683513 lababatola@yahoo.com
Agronomy,
University of Ibadan,
Ibadan
42 Mrs A.O Fabiyi Agricultural Research Extensionist 08023271512 olukemifabiyi@yahoo.com
Council of Nigeria
(ARCN), Abuja
43 Dr K.E Deshi Department of Plant Lecturer 08060997792 kdeshi@yahoo.com
Science and
Technology.
University of Jos, Jos
44 Nathaniel Omokemi Mountain Top MD 08033799625 batiesis@yahoo.com
45 Perpetua Ose NIHORT Research 08063216193 pepose@yahoo.com

29
 DESIGNATIO PHONE
S/N NAME ORGANISATION EMAIL ADDRESS
N NUMBER
Officer
46 Dr Ajani S.A Federal Institute for Head Packaging 08023470542 sakirdin@yahoo.com
Industrial Research, Technology
Oshodi (FIIRO), Division
Lagos
47 Olaniyan Olugbenga IITA Conference 07055070037 olaniyanaso@gmail.com
Centre Officer o.olaniyan@cgiar.org
48 Ayodele Otaiku Aratibiotech Limited Managing 08033721219 aotaiku@gmail.com
Director
49 Dr A.O Shokalu National Research 08036369814 kemishokalu@yahoo.co.uk
Horticultural Officer
Research Institute
(NIHORT), Ibadan
50 Ajila Oyekunle FIIRO Protocol 08059993944 omoajila1@gmail.com
51 Oduntan A.O NIHORT SRO 08033221716 bosetunde12@yahoo.com
52 Adeyemo A.A Bayer Crop Science ASM 0903886785 adeyemi.adeyemo@bayer.com
53 Awe Oluwatosin NIHORT Research 08093281011 eniolaawe@gmail.com
Officer
54 Adeyemo Samuel Rich Source Industry Supervisor 08138111098 samuel4real@gmail.com
Limited
55 Popoola Folake NIHORT Principal 08033978708 folakepope@yahoo.com
Research
Officer
56 Dr Oyeku. O FIIRO Director 08023415016 deleoyeku8@yahoo.co.uk
57 John Akinwole TOFAS Coordinator 08061370193 johnakinwale56@gmail.com
58 Sola Omidiran Selema Farms Participants 08033257285 solaomidiran@gmail.com
59 Ibe Rebecca NIHORT Participants/LO 08035850487 beckkyakinyemi@yahoo.com
C
60 Kenneth Obosi NIHORT Participants 080597229779 oyewonu@yahoo.com
61 Adewuyi IITA Lab Manager 08035220631 o.adewuyi@cgiar.org
Omowunmi
62 Ojo Oluwatoyin NIHORT Higher 07066786603 pstayobami@gmail.com
Executive
Officer
63 Tunde Okoya Lange and Grant, Director 08037142721 tkokoya@yahoo.co.uk
Lagos
64 Promise Ogbonna NAFDAC, Abuja Assistant Chief 08055240143 ogboproms@yahoo.com
65 Idowu Agida NIHORT P.R.O 08023281562 agidadayo@gmail.com
Oladayo
66 Regina Komga AVRDC Research +237699583623 regine.komga@worldveg.org
Associate
67 Dr. Babalola Sadiat NIHORT, Ibadan Assistant 08033858118 boyenike@gmail.com
Director
68 Larry Umunna Technoserve Nigeria, Country 080209119984 lumunna@tns.org
Abuja Director
69 Gbadebo A.O Farmer/Engineer 08034546290 aoagbadebo@yahoo.co.uk
70 Ashaolu Kayode Asteven Solar Strategic 08136036988 ashaolu.kayode@astevenltd.co
Markets & m
Operations
71 Korede Odufuye Lange and Grant, 08168376402 korede.odufuye@langeandgran
Lagos t.net
72 Adewale Jamiu Mjad Farm limited, Iroko Akinyele 08077788703 mjadworld@yahoo.com
Ibadan L.G

30
 DESIGNATIO PHONE
S/N NAME ORGANISATION EMAIL ADDRESS
N NUMBER
73 Dr B.O Fagbola NIHORT Chief Librarian 07056780370 bovicyem@yahoo.co.uk
74 Fade Aluko Akintola NIHORT Research 08033889462 fadealukotolar@gmail.com
Officer
75 Akinnila A.O NIHORT Principal 08033703126 akinniolaadebisi@yahoo.co.uk
Officer
76 Bukola Sotubo USAID NEXTT, Food Safety 08033192030 bukolasotubo@yahoo.com
Lagos Advisor
77 Lanre Nwankwo OKLAN/NEXTT CEO/MD 07055500636 oklan2000@yahoo.com
78 Dr Olajide-Taiwo NIHORT Ibadan Chief Research 07033165121 funmibosede@gmail.com
Officer
79 Afolayan Omotola AG, Ibadan Participant 08062333111 omotolabisam@gmail.com
80 Okoye Enime Mercy NIHORT Research 07037464944 enimieokoyo@gmail.com
Officer
81 Olosunde O.M FUNAAB Lecturer 08066465131 olatundeolosunde@yahoo.com
82 Anjorin Rapporteur Rapporteur 08038292528 olufolakemianjorin@gmail.co
Oluwafolakemi m
83 Prof I. Aiyelaagbe FUNAAB Lecturer 08033815606 ola_olu57@yahoo.com
84 Uduak Igbeka GAIN, SUN Business Coordinator 08033416890 uigbeka@gainhealth.org
Network
85 Dr Odeyemi Bukola FUNAAB Lecturer 08036727016 bukie09@yahoo.com
86 Bello Olayinka FUNAAB Student 08035029925 touchrosy@yahoo.com
87 Alh S.A Imam OYSADEP Chairman 08057318626 saliuimam6@gmail.com
88 Justus Ochieng AVRDC Agricultural justus.ochieng@worldveg.org
Economist
89 Dr D.O Ladipo CENRAD Principal 08054446881 ladipoolajide@yahoo.com
Consultant
90 Dr Adewunmi Yinka Federal University Lecturer 07069224939 yinkaadewoyin@gmail.com
Oye Ekiti
91 Omotolar Etukudo College of Agric Lecturer. Head 08075647144 omotolaetuk@gmail.com
Ahmadu Bello of Program,
University Horticulture and
Landscape
92 Dr Victor Ajieroh BMGF Senior 07064016183 victor.ajieroh@gatesfoundatio
Programme n.org
Officer
93 Bello Abba NIRSAL Coordinator 08033338734 b.abba@nirsal.com
94 Dr Funmi Umunna Aesthetic Suite, Physician 08061206899 funmi@mweb.co.za
South Africa
95 Omidiran Kunle Broomfield Farms Participant 08030988857 a.omidiran@cgiar.org
96 Stephen Haastrup USAID/NEXTT
97 Remi Osijo RBS/NEXTT Consultant 08023129152 remiosijo@rbsconsult.com
98 Anthony E CRIN Ibadan 08056132070 toniagbons@yahoo.com
99 Folashade Oba IOPN-Packaging Editor 09030006903 folashade.oba@iopnigeria.org
Magazine
100 Dr. Olutayo University of 08023065782 olutayo.adedokun@gmail.com
Adedokun Portharcourt
101 Adebayo Folashade NIHORT, Ibadan Principal 08055834692 Ak_folasade@yahoo.com
Research
Officer
102 Okon O Unung Plant Genetics & Research 07035232525 okon4success@gmail.com
Biotechnology Assistant
NABA, Abuja
103 Tessel W.L. Kuijten Embassy of Kingdom First Secretary 08036590875 tessel.kuijten@minbuza.nl
of the Netherlands Economic

31
 DESIGNATIO PHONE
S/N NAME ORGANISATION EMAIL ADDRESS
N NUMBER
Affairs

104 Damilola Bolaji Reelfruit, Lagos Lagos 08073514831 damilolabolaji@gmail.com

105 Honourable Munir House of Member, House mbdanagundi@yahoo.com
Babba Danagundi Representatives, Committee on
Nigeria Agriculture

32
ANNEX 6: SOME SYMPOSIUM PICTURES

33
34