African leaders lead by Nigeria's president should be drawing up a British-African Fruit Programme which the new British prime minister should be obliged to sign if he want them to remain members of the club

Ayo Akinfe

[1] One huge problem the UK will face outside the European Union (EU) is that she will no longer enjoy duty-free supply of fruits and vegetables from the Mediterranean region. Trust the Spanish, Italians, Greeks, French and Portuguese, they will demand full market price for all the tropical fruits they sell to the UK from now on. We want some of this action too, so demand a share of the market immediately

[2] British companies like Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Iceland, etc now have to buy their fruits from Southern Europe at global market prices. With the EU protection gone, countries like Nigeria should be able to compete for access to the UK market alongside southern European suppliers

[3] Nigeria is actually a significant fruit producer globally. We are the seventh largest pineapple producer (1.6m tonnes), sixth largest papaya producer (837,000 tonnes), 10th largest mango producer (917,000 tonnes) and 10th largest guava producer (790,000 tonnes). Downing Street should explain why this is not reflected in UK retail sales

[4] Africans need to start thinking about how to get our produce on to UK supermarket shelves. Matters that need addressing include supply guarantees, meeting international food safety standards and avoiding damage in transit. For instance, Tesco and Sainsbury can easily supply Nigerian farmers with refrigerated trucks

[5] During the last UK-Africa Summit in London, I did not see any farmers on President Buhari’s entourage. What would have been ideal would have been if our main fruit producers had come over and sat down with the likes of Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco, Iceland, etc to thrash out supply deals

[6] Just imagine if at their numerous meetings, President Buhari and Prime Minister Boris Johnson had witnessed the signing of a historic fruit supply deal. Trust Boris the showman, he would have bragged about it non-stop, heralding it as the great new chapter in British history and a vindication of the decision to leave the EU

[7] Our supply costs are lower than many other global fruit producers due to lesser wages. Also, the fact that we are geographically just below Europe gives us a competitive edge over suppliers in Asia and the Americas. Post-Brexit, fresh Nigerian fruit should be arriving in the UK every day in the hundreds of thousands tonnes

[8] What our producers need is refrigerated trucks to convey their fruit from farm to port, government approved warehouses that are secure and refrigerated and then training on modern pest control methods and international food safety standards. In return, they should be asked to offer supply guarantees underwritten by the Nigerian government for long term deals

[9] I would have liked to see the next Nigerian president assure the UK retail trade that Nigeria will meet all their tropical fruit requirements over the next 10 years unfailing. It would then be a case of working out the mechanics of any supply deal with the private sector operators on both sides

[10] I always try to remain optimistic, so live in hope that over the four years starting from 2023, Nigeria's next president will seize the initiative and grab the moment. He should consider this the chance in a lifetime