Barely three months to September, the end of the 2014/2015 season for cocoa, industry watchers are wondering whether the country will meet its target of producing 500,000 metric tons cocoa beans.
Cocoa was major in the products that were the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy in the 1960s. Others were kolanut, timber, rubber and palm oil. Long before the discovery of crude oil, Nigeria prided herself as a cocoa-producing nation. Also, experts note that before the discovery of oil and its exploration, cocoa was the nation’s major exportable item. But even after the oil boom, cocoa remained the country’s most important export after petroleum.
States such as Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Cross River and parts of Abia, grew the crop for commercial purposes. The nation is currently the fourth largest producer of cocoa in the world, behind Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia, according to statistics provided by the International Cocoa Organisation (ICO) Until a few years ago, the commodity suffered as a result of inadequate support from successive governments in the country until President Olusegun Obasanjo came into office.
Boosts
To sustain the country’s fourth position as a cocoa producing nation and possibly improve upon it, the immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), distributed hybrid cocoa pods to farmers across the country to boost production and exports.
Over 1.4 million hybrid cocoa pods were said to have been distributed to farmers across the country. This, according to experts, translates to about 50 million seedlings, which they argued are enough for farmers to plant 46,000 hectares of new cocoa plantation. Also, Team Leader, Cocoa Value Chain Development at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Peter Aikpokpodion, said that cocoa farmers were also being provided with critical inputs, such as agrochemicals, to guard against black pod and insects and fertiliser to enhance yield per hectare. “We have also succeeded, for the first time, to introduce a specifically formulated fertiliser for cocoa.
Cocoa farmers are also given agro-chemicals, insecticides and fungicides, in addition to fertiliser and hybrid pods,” he said. Furthermore, in March this year, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) expressed readiness to support Nigerian farmers in boosting cocoa production towards the diversification of the nation’s economy. USAID’s Director of Economic Growth and Environment, Mr. Mathew Burton, said that cocoa was Nigeria’s key export that urgently needed to be developed. “The US Government, through the USAID, will continue to support Nigerian farmers in the development of the cocoa sector due to the current fall in the prices of oil. We think that the time is ripe for diversification in Nigeria’s economy. The USAID is very much interested in supporting Nigerian government’s effort at diversifying her economy.
And cocoa, as we all know, is one of Nigeria’s key exports, with a high global demand and prices. So, there are obviously opportunities for Nigeria to explore in the development of her cocoa sector,” he said.
Previous outputs
According to Mr. Robo Adhuze of the Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative, output for 2011/2012 season was 250,000 metric tonnes, with a 10 per cent increase in the 2012/2013 season, which moved the production up to 270,000 metric tonnes.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture said that Nigeria produced 350,000 metric tons of cocoa in the 2013-2014 season, though the International Cocoa Organisation assessed Nigeria’s production for that season at 240,000 tons. Despite this increase, the country is still far behind other countries in terms of annual output. Ivory Coast, for instance, which is currently the world’s largest cocoa producer, is estimated to have been hitting one million metric tonnes per annum in the last few years, while Ghana produces between 900,000mt and 950,000mt, rising to 1.1 million metric tonnes in 2011-2012.
The target
The immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development had said that the country would hit 500,000 metric tons this year, that is, by the end of September. Adesina, who said this in Abuja during an interactive session with the reformed Cocoa Development Committee said: “With the release of eight hybrid cocoa species by the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), the country could achieve the production of one million tons in subsequent years.”
To meet the target, Adesina said that government had adopted a holistic approach towards improving cocoa production, which included collaborating with the 22 cocoa producing state governments. The former minister also said that strategies had been put in place for the replacement of old cocoa trees and also to create seedlings for nurseries across the cocoa producing states for easy access to farmers. Also, Adesina, the new president of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) said that cocoa production in the country could rise to around 700,000 tonnes in 2016. “By 2020, Nigeria should certainly be in the one million cocoa production club,” he said.
Fears
However, a few months to September, the end of the cocoa season, stakeholders have said that the target may be at risk due to the outbreak of fungal black pod disease, which broke out early this year. Furthermore, excessive rains recorded before and expected this year, according to industry watchers, may also negatively affect the target. A stakeholder who craved for anonymity, however, said: “The exit of Adesina may also be another factor that will hinder the country from meeting the 500,000 metric tons target for this year. His initiative of various steps to boost the production may need to be thoroughly monitored to meet the target or even surpass it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment