The National Agency for Food and Drug Control and Administration (NAFDAC) has placed a ban on paraguat effective 1st January next year. Paraquat is a toxic chemical that is widely used as a plant killer, primarily for weed and grass control.
The agency also said that chlorpyrifos will be outlawed from 1st November 2024, while atrazine will suffer a similar fate from 1st January 2025.
Chlorpyrifos is widely used in homes and on farms, and applied to crops in a capsule form. In the home, it is used to control cockroaches, fleas, and termites; and also used in some pet flea and tick collars. On the farm, it is used to control ticks on cattle and as a spray to control crop pests.
Atrazine is a herbicide that is used to stop pre- and post-emergence broadleaf and grassy weeds in crops such as sorghum, maize, sugarcane, lupins, pine, and on turfs, such as golf courses and residential lawns.
In a statement on Sunday, NAFDAC’s Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye has also commenced action plan for the ban or phase-out of 12 active ingredients and the reclassification of four others. “The availability of alternatives in the country were put into consideration to ensure that stakeholders, most especially farmers will not be affected by the decisions taken”.
The agency announced the immediate ban on carbofuran, a carbamate pesticide widely used to control insects on a wide variety of field crops, including potatoes, corn and soybeans.
Adeyeye also announced a two-year phase-out plan for clothianidin, diquat dibromide, diquat dichloride and ametryn.
Clothianidin is a pesticide used on food and non-food crops, including corn, soybeans, leafy greens, and fruits, as well as on turf and residential areas. It controls sucking and some chewing insects such as aphids, thrips, and beetles. It may be applied to plant leaves, soil, or seeds.
Diquat dibromide is a non-selective contact herbicide, algicide, desiccant, and defoliant that produces desiccation and defoliation most often available as the dibromide, diquat dibromide; while diquat dichloride is a contact desiccant and herbicide. It is highly soluble in water, has a low risk of leaching to groundwater and is volatile.
Ametryn, a member of the triazine chemical family, is a herbicide which inhibits photosynthesis and other enzymatic processes. It is used to control broadleaf.
The ban on the use of clothianidin, diquat dibromide, diquat dichloride and ametryn becomes effective from 1st January 2025, the NAFDAC DG said.
Banned from 1st January 2026 are anthraquinone, carbendazim, chlorothalonil, oxadiargyle, thiacloprid, methomyl and thiamethoxam.
Adeyeye also announced a three-year proposed reclassification plan for fipronil, permethrin, cyfluthrin and amitraz from crop protection products to household use only. By 1st January 2027, these products will be banned for crop protection, she further said.
The NAFDAC DG said: “The dangers posed by pesticides are of immense concern to the agency and there have been recent concerns from stakeholders such as the report of the study conducted by Heinrich Boll Foundation; a non-governmental organisation that claimed that 40 per cent of pesticides used in Nigeria had been banned in the European Union (EU). There was also an alert received from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) cautioning on the possibility that the EU and United Kingdom were exporting banned neonicotinoid pesticides to Nigeria and other poorer countries. Emphasis was placed on chlorpyrifos and its variants due to their harmful effects on humans, animals, beneficial insects, and the environment”.
Adeyeye said that has undertaken “review and analysis of the list of registered pesticide and agrochemical active ingredients in NAFDAC Registered Product Automated Database (NARPAD) vis-à-vis actives banned, non-approved or restricted in the European Union, other countries or by relevant international organisations”.
She solicited the cooperation of the public and relevant stakeholders in NAFDAC’s efforts to rid the country of the hazardous pesticides
