NEPC, JETRO Partner To Reduce Post Harvest Waste

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO), are working to reduce post harvest losses arising from poor packaging of agric produce.
According to a statement made available to The Tide by NEPC in Port Harcourt, recently, the partnership is in view of the billions of dollars post to poor packaging of agricultural products in Africa.
Executive Director/CEO of NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, who disclosed this at a one-day capacity building programme, noted that there was no short cut for producers of vegetables and perishable products to competitive advantage in the global market without quality packaging.
He pointed out that about 40-60 per cent of Nigeria’s fresh fruits and vegetables are lost as a result of poor packaging, handling and preservation.
Awolowo added that the capacity building programme will assist the average farmer and exporter to gain better insights into issues related to global standard on packaging for export.
“Our resolve to collaborate with JETRO and other stakeholders is borne out of the need to drastically reduce post-harvest losses among farmers, processors and exporters leading to revenue losses and poor quality products”, he added.
This, Awolowo noted is in line with the Zero Reject policy of the federal government, adding that packaging and standards were global issues that determine product development and sustainability in the market.
In his keynote statement, the Trade Commissioner/MD , JETRO, Lagos, Mr. Taku Miyazaki, said, there are huge potentials in the agric sector in Nigeria, with the country being number one within the producing nations of commodities such as yam cassava, groundunts and maize