By Jimoh Babatunde with agency reports
Nigeria used to rank as one of the leading cocoa- producing countries in West Africa before the oil boom. Cocoa was a major export crop for the nation as it fetched a sizeable percentage of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.

The economy of the defunct Western Region of Nigeria was once based on the fund from cocoa, regrettably, however, crude oil displaced the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy from the early 1970s and till date, the sector has been faltering.

Cocoa production which was predominant in the South-West and parts of South-South geo-political zones of the country, was badly hit by the drawback in the agricultural sector, largely because of the emergence of oil as the nation’s new major foreign exchange earner.

Successive governments knowing the importance of this cash crop to the economy, continued to roll out plans to restore the old glory of cocoa.

Mr. Joseph Akinrotimi, a cocoa farmer in Ondo town, observed that the albatross of the cocoa industry and the farmers could be traced to the neglect of the sector by successive governments in the country. He said the policies formulated by various governments were not in support of the sector as everybody looked up to oil revenue.

In 1999, on assumption of office, President Olusegun Obasanjo sent the Cocoa Rebirth Bill to the National Assembly. Its promulgation into law led to the setting up of the National Cocoa Development Committee (NCDC) whose preoccupation was the development of the produce through the provision of an enabling environment for its production, processing, packaging and export.

As the umbrella association of all cocoa stakeholders in Nigeria – including farmers, processors and the research agencies – the committee was also mandated to ensure uniformity in cocoa production.

That development gave rise to the National Cocoa Rebirth Day, a day set aside every year to bring cocoa to the front burner and emphasise its strategic importance to the transformation of the nation’s economy.

The chairman of the National Planning Committee of Cocoa Rebirth Day and the then Osun State Deputy Governor , Chief (Mrs.) Olusola Obada, is part of the present Jonathan’s cabinet serving as a Minister in the Defense Ministry.

Nigeria’s production of cocoa was increased from 170,000 tonnes in 1999 to over 700,000 tonnes before the government left office. The increase in output can be attributed to the setting up of the NCDC, made up of the 14 cocoa-producing states in the country, which distributed new high yield cocoa seedlings to cocoa farmers, along with the purchase of chemicals and inputs at 50 per cent subsidy.

Today, the new song is the Federal Government’s Cocoa Transformation Agenda. The Nigerian government says it is committed to transforming cocoa production in the country and become a leading exporter of the product in the world.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina who revealed this during a meeting with major stakeholders in cocoa production and the banking sector recently, listed some of the key targets of the country’s Cocoa Transformation Agenda to include, a rapid doubling or tripling of current production, from 250,000 metric tonnes within the next three years, to one million metric tonnes in the next five years, in order to increase Nigeria’s market share in the global market.

The Minister added: “The second target is the generation of employment through the creation of at least 365,000 jobs and an accelerated rural transformation through the provision of basic facilities in cocoa-growing communities.”

Cocoa transformation- a reality

The Federal Government’s Cocoa Transformation Agenda is targeting to achieve an aggressive and rapid expansion of cocoa acreage to at least 1million hectares in the next four years and the establishment of a Cocoa Marketing and Trade Corporation (CMCT).

He disclosed that government planned to establish the Cocoa Marketing and Trade Development Corporation, specifically to harness opportunities in cocoa production in the country.

Adesina assured that the new outfit would seek to redress the dwindling fortune of the cocoa industry in Nigeria with a view to boosting the nation’s production capacity annually.

Besides, he said, the newly created organ would work to improve cocoa farmers’ skills, while boosting the competitiveness of the commodity at the global market.

It also hopes to increase local processing, value addition and local consumption of cocoa products, as well as the establishment of a Cocoa Investment Fund to drive greater investment in all aspects of the cocoa value chain.

A strategic plan is already in place on how banks and financial institutions can provide support to the role players in the cocoa sector to drive an accelerated revolution within the framework of the transformation agenda.

In addition, strategies are being mapped out to ensure appropriate pricing of cocoa products with a view to getting good returns on investments for cocoa farmers and entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

Already, stakeholders are baring their minds on the new initiative as to what they expect from it and taking a look at the past efforts of government.

Mr. Victor Iyama, a former president, Nigeria Cocoa Association, commended government’s initiative, stating that the corporation should indeed assist farmers to access standardised inputs at subsidised rates, to enhance their production for export.

He said the corporation would be a positive development as long as it acted as the market of last resort and not buyer or seller of commodities as it was with the defunct Nigeria Cocoa Board (NCB).

“We need a board that will promote the production of cocoa in this country. The reason is not far-fetched. Today, Ghana is producing 915,000 tonnes and Cote d’Ivoire is producing 1.3 million tonnes.

“Ghana only has about 24 million people, Cote d’Ivoire, maybe 29 million people. Nigeria used to be at par with these people. Today, we are producing about 300,000 tonnes.

“So, we welcome that board as long as it is a board that will be used to promote cocoa production.”

In all these efforts, analysts expect that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would continue to act as a valued partner in the revival of the nation’s agricultural sector by giving financial empowerment to relevant institutions to ultimately assist farmers.

But Kolade Lawal, a cocoa farmer in Osun said they expect to get high yield hybrid seedlings, whose gestation period is 18 months unlike the variety produced in the past which reached maturity after six years. He explained that was one of the areas that proved to be meritorious under the cocoa re-birth programme as it helped to increase cocoa production from 1,200 metric tonnes to between 350,000 and 400,000 metric tones. Dr. Peter Aikpokpodion, a plant breeder with the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, an expert in cocoa and the leader of the cocoa transformation team, said they are out to see “how this programme can touch as many cocoa farmers as we have.

“But the Federal Government will be working with the state and local governments and the private sector.”

because this is a public-private partnership which we are using here to target the farmers.”

Asked the programme will not be jettison soon, Aikpokpodion said “from the very outset, the farmers are put at the centre stage in this initiative.

“Like the programme of the government in terms of enhancing support, whatever support the government is giving is to put it directly into the hands of the farmers. There is one thing we call e-register for the registration of the farmer, the location of the farm and other necessary things.