Gov’t orders withdrawal of dangerous sprayers from the market

Before banning whisky in sachets, the Cameroon government had earlier taken another drastic measure which they say is intended to guarantee the health of the farmer and even that of consumers of agricultural products.

Government has ordered dealers in sprayers to withdraw from circulation in the country latest November 30, all sprayers that do not carry classification marks of either A or B.

The decision was taken last August 25 by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Essimi Menye upon recommendations arrived at during the 19th session of the National Homologation Commission for Pesticides and Certification of Sprayers represented by 11 and whose members met last March 18.

Explaining the importance of the decision to reporters last September 15, the Director of Regulation and Control of Inputs and Agricultural Products in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Francis Leku Azenaku cautioned that "Farmers should avoid using unclassified sprayers because chemicals may leak in such sprayers and destroy their bodies or even when such sprayers over pomp chemicals on agricultural plants, the products at the end of the season may not be good for consumption.

"Unclassified sprayers are also too heavy and when carried for long its heavy weight weaken the farmers. After the deadline of November 30, 2014, we shall proceed immediately with the seizure and destruction of all uncertified sprayers all over the national territory. Its worth noting that the destruction cost will be incurred by their owners."

Stressing on the advantages of classified sprayers, Mr LEKU Francis said "Class A sprayers which carry an indelible green logo are very excellent while Class B ones which carry a yellow indelible logo are rated good. Thanks to this certification, our farmers will no longer be deceived by unscrupulous business people who used to sell less performing sprayers at the price of best ones."

On a reassuring note, the Director announced that "as from January 2015, we shall systematically be carrying out post homologation test on the certified sprayers in order to ensure that manufacturers do not return to the fabrication of bad quality ones."

He added that for the follow up of this decision, Minister Essimi Menye wrote to his colleague of Public Contracts that the Ministry of Agriculture is consulted first before the award of a public contract on sprayers and that for such purposes, only category A sprayers are eligible.