Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has said that Nigeria is expected to generate $1.5 billion from cocoa exports in 2014.
Adesina who disclosed this recently in his paper entitled, “Nigeria’s High Growth, Low Development Gap: Harnessing the Untapped Potential of Agriculture for Inclusive Growth,” at the first Convocation Ceremony of Land Mark University, Omu Aran, Kwara State, said foreign exchange earnings from Nigeria’s cocoa exports grew from $900 million in 2012 to $1.2 billion in 2013.
Unfortunately, prices for Nigerian cocoa have fallen as mould induced by heavy rains reduced the quality of the chocolate ingredient. Farm gate prices in the Cross River belt dropped eight per cent to N440,000 a metric tonne, compared with N480,000 at the end of July, the country coordinator for Socodevi, Neji Abang said in an interview.
The main crop harvest in the southern Edo state, accounting for 15 per cent of the nation’s output, has been slowed by mould of up to 30 per cent owing to the rains, spokesman for the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, Aminu Yakubu said.
In Ondo state, the highest producing state, which is responsible for as much as 40 per cent of the nation’s output, mould levels are up to 20 per cent, making it difficult for farmers to dry beans, chairman for the farmers’ association said Adeola Adegoke. Farm gate prices in the area are between N450,000 and N500,000, he said.
But Adesina insisted cocoa revolution in Nigeria is receiving global attention as Hershey, one of the largest chocolate companies in the world, has invested $20 million to procure cocoa from over 20,000 certified cocoa farmers in the country.
He said Nigeria has also launched into local manufacturing of Nigerian chocolates through a strategic partnership with a US-based company, the first of such in the manufacturing history of the country.
Adesina said, “we are revamping our cocoa plantations, replacing old trees with high yielding cocoa hybrids that give farmers five times the yields they currently obtain. Over the past two years, we have distributed 1.1 million pods or 39 million seedlings, free of charge to farmers, enough to plant 40,000ha of new cocoa fields.
“We are working hard to drastically mechanise our agriculture from reliance on hoes and cutlasses. Hoes and cutlasses are for museums not for modern agriculture. To allow farmers to acquire and or lease modern mechanised machinery, we have launched 600 agricultural equipment hiring enterprises run by the private sector to provide full complements of tractors and pre- and post-harvest machinery to farmers,” he added.
The minister explained that farmers would be provided with subsidised mechanised services via electronic vouchers on their mobile phones for mechanisation support to allow them hire agricultural machinery from private sector operators.
The centres would create employment for agricultural engineers as operators, managers or owners of agricultural mechanisation centres.
