Nigeria is renewing economic ties with Mexico to enable the recommencement of hibiscus flower exports to the North American country.
This is coming about three years after Mexico banned import of the commodity from Nigeria due to compliance issues relating to impurities, infestation from a pest called Khapra beetle, and poor quality production.
Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD),
made the disclosure recently when he received a delegation led by Alfredo Miranda, the new Mexican Ambassador to Nigeria.
Commenting on Nigeria’s suspension from exporting hibiscus flowers, the minister said It is regrettable that the suspension of hibiscus trade lasted for nearly three years longer than it should and resulted in a slowdown of the momentum of export activities around hibiscus.
Abubakar pledged the Agric Ministry’s commitment to work closely with off-takers and exporters through the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) to facilitate building of chambers dedicated to methyl bromide fumigation of hibiscus.
According to him, the three-year period was used to decisively overcome the proximate cause of the export suspension, ensuring khapra beetle infestation of hibiscus consignments was effectively addressed.
The minister commended the Mexican ambassador for his efforts towards ensuring that compliance issues that stalled the export of Nigerian hibiscus to Mexico were resolved during his tenure.
He also informed the delegation that Nigeria is a large producer of ginger, chili peppers, among others, saying the country would want to partner Mexico on trade for these products.
“Our hope is that NAQS would be supported to achieve this mutually-beneficial outcome,” he said.
On his part, the Mexican ambassador to Nigeria said that his country was deeply involved in strengthening the capacity of its agricultural produce, adding that hibiscus value was worth more than $600 million.
Miranda further expressed delight to do business with Nigeria under the Ministry of Agriculture.
Vincent Isegbe, the comptroller general of NAQS, in his remarks, stressed that hibiscus is one of the products that Nigeria has been exporting to Mexico before the ban.
”We have been doing well until we had hitches on it, but with the resumption of the new Ambassador it took only three hours to resolve the matter,” he noted.
