For sustainable cocoa growth

NIGERIA might be on track to regain its competitive place among cocoa-producing countries. However, this may be short-lived if the government dwells on rhetoric without taking actionable steps to create an enabling environment for the agriculture sector.

To realise its dream, the Federal Government recently stated its intention to increase cocoa production from 340,000 metric tonnes to 500,000MT by 2025, thereby boosting forex receipts.

At the latest Pre-National Trade Dialogue series in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investments, Nura Rimi, said this would be achieved through strategic partnerships with the International Cocoa Organisation and the African Cocoa Fund. This is a worthy target.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the value of cocoa earnings jumped to N107.6 billion in Q1 2023, and 171.2 billion in Q2 2023 to N408.7 billion in Q1 2024. Despite gnawing economic challenges, the dollar value of the cocoa exports led to an impressive 279 per cent increase in revenues.

The resolve of the government to boost cocoa production is achievable if the government secures the lives of farmers from various security threats, especially the ravaging Fulani herdsmen rapine, kidnapping, and banditry. The security of farmers is germane to food security and cash crop export expansion.

The government should improve rural-urban link roads to ease the logistics of raw cocoa to the export centres, and chocolate and beverage factories. The government should quickly remove nuisance taxes that asphyxiate the profit margins of farmers.

Nigeria should prioritise agriculture. In the First Republic, the regional governments depended on the income from palm oil, peanuts, and cocoa to create sustainable revenues and engender competitive socioeconomic developments.

Before the discovery of crude oil at Oloibiri in Bayelsa State in 1956, Nigeria was a leading producer of palm oil. It was second only to Ghana in cocoa production. Unfortunately, Nigeria now lags in cocoa production. Nigeria is the fourth largest cocoa producer with 280,000MT in the 2022-2023 season per ICCO. Ivory Coast (1.8 million MT), Ghana (750,000MT), and Indonesia (641,000MT) perform better.

In South-West Nigeria, a rich landscape where cocoa production thrived in the 1960s, the government of the old Western Region took advantage of the global demand for cocoa. This boosted industrialisation, and free and quality social services in education and health. The imposing Cocoa House in Ibadan is a testament to the possibilities of sustainable and beneficial economic growth. Unfortunately, the governors of the South-West states have abandoned that legacy at the expense of sharing money from the centre. That should stop.

States should explore the natural resources in their domains instead of over-dependence on federal allocations. They should collaborate across regions to achieve robust social and infrastructural development.

To achieve the target, a holistic and seamless strategy must be implemented to boost the cocoa industry. Farmers, local industries, and SMEs in the cocoa value chain should be incentivised to boost the industry. This will go a long way to correct the employment deficit in the country.

With a soaring global chocolate demand, Nigeria’s forex earnings and FDI will improve if the government implements the best agricultural practices and feasible export regulations for cash crops.

The government should deploy existing research from the agriculture institutes to provide improved seedlings resistant to pests, tree, and pod diseases.

It should invest in further research and development and unbundle the same for improved yield per hectare. For Nigeria to meet its target, the extension service agents should educate farmers to use the right tools, fertilisers, and processes.