While speaking at a press conference organised by the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service to mark the International Day of Plant Health, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Mahmood, disclosed that Nigeria loses 50% of its annual crop production to attacks by pests.
The Minister said, “We must take plant health seriously because plants are in constant danger of attack by viruses, bacteria, nematodes, insects, aphids and fungi.
“These plant health threats undermine food security and increase the vulnerability of livelihoods dependent on crop value chains.
“In Nigeria, we lose 50 per cent of our annual farm gate value to the damages of pests. They cause yield and quality losses, reduce food availability and increase food prices.”
He, however, stated that the government recognised the fact that safeguarding plant health was a national priority and that this led to the establishment of NAQS.
