The International Cocoa Coordination Organisation (ICCO) has urged Nigerian manufacturers to explore the potentialities of cocoa so as to produce more cocoa-based goods.

The ICCO Project Coordinator, Mr Yunusa Abubakar, who made the appeal, said that the measure would improve the benefits of cocoa farmers in the country.

Abubakar said that there was the need for researchers to do more in the area of cocoa products that could be adaptable to the tropics as most cocoa products could not be stored for a long time in the region. He said cocoa was mostly produced in West Africa, but widely consumed in Europe and America.

“Our researchers and manufacturers should step up efforts to tap into cocoa properly and produce more local beverages from it. We can increase the benefits farmers get from cocoa by encouraging local consumption. If we do that, it will increase demand and there will be competition between domestic and international demand to the point that it could. When the demand is higher than supply, it will help maintain prices and that will improve farmers income generating capacity.’’

Yunusa lamented that in Africa, where 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa was produced, there was high level of poverty among cocoa farmers because of the lack of skills and low productivity. He said that the annual production of cocoa in Nigeria, which previously witnessed a decline was picking up, with a 240 tonnes per annum at present.

According to him, the Federal Government, the ICCO and the Cocoa Association of Nigeria are making frantic efforts to increase the tonnage.

The ICCO project coordinator said the organisation was also working to increase the market access of Nigerian cocoa by improving its quality and considering safety concerns. A delegation from ICCO had on May 22, visited Dr Samuel Ortom, the Minister of State, Trade and Investment, to seek support for cocoa producers in West Africa.