In the pre-independence Nigeria, agriculture, especially cocoa farming, was one of the mainstays of the nation’s economy.
The top five cocoa producing states in Nigeria are Ondo, Osun, Cross River, Oyo, and Ogun, while Edo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Delta, Abia, Enugu and Akwa Ibom produce in a smaller scale.
Regrettably, as oil production and exportation gained momentum, there was a significant shift from agriculture, including cocoa farming, as investment in it waned.
In recent years, there have been a resurgence of cocoa farming and increased trading in the commodity as well as rise in the price – bringing hope and excitement to stakeholders.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed a significant surge in Nigeria’s cocoa exports, with the country exporting N1.2 trillion in 2024 and up from N171 billion in 2023, representing an impressive 606 per cent increase in the fourth quarter of 2024 alone.
This surge is attributed to a combination of favourable market conditions and the impact of seasonality, as well as unfavourable weather patterns affecting major global cocoa producers, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
“Nigeria’s cocoa exports recorded a 92 per cent rise from N624.71 billion in the third quarter of 2024, fueled by cocoa price rally.
“As prices soared, Nigerian cocoa farmers and exporters took advantage of the opportunity, reviving old cocoa plantations and planting new cocoa trees to tap into the lucrative cash crop value chain,’’ AgroNigeria has reported.
From cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, chocolate cake and cocoa powder to animal feed and pectin, among others, cocoa had been very useful to the medical, confectionary and food industry.
Economic experts say the global resurgence of the cocoa trade must be optimally harnessed by Nigeria, the fourth largest producer of cocoa in the world.
Recently, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the draft bill for the establishment of the National Cocoa Management Board (NCMB) in order to revamp Nigeria’s cocoa industry.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, who conveyed the decision, said the initiative was aimed at establishing Nigeria as a key player in the global cocoa market while enhancing the welfare of cocoa farmers nationwide.
According to him, the decision is in tandem with broader goals to ensure sustainable practices and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who are crucial to the industry.
Kyari said that NCMB would be empowered to regulate the cocoa sub-sector, rehabilitate plantations, provide soft credit facilities to farmers, and enforce market standards.
“The board is expected to drive a sustainable cocoa economy that will contribute significantly to Nigeria’s gross domestic product by boosting domestic consumption, attracting youths into agriculture, and increasing foreign exchange earnings through export of premium-quality cocoa products.
“In 2023, Nigeria generated N356.16 billion from cocoa beans and allied products. With this new framework, we will be competing directly with top global producers such as Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire,” he said.
At the subnational, cocoa stakeholders and farmers are making the resurgence count.
A cocoa farmer at Erunmu in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State, Mr Taofeek Adesola, said he returned to his village in 2020 to take care of his late father’s cocoa farm after he lost his job in Lagos State.
Adesola said that the decision had changed his economic status.
“I have renovated my late father’s house at Lalupon and equally started building my own house from cocoa beans proceeds,” he said.
He spoke on his plan to start cultivating more high-yielding seedlings to replace old cocoa trees in his late father’s farm in the coming season.
A cocoa produce buyer in the state, Chief Ezekiel Olagunju, also confirmed the development, attributing it to poor Naira exchange rate with the dollar.
According to him, the exchange rate favours cocoa exporters as they get more Naira from export of cocoa beans.
Olagunju further attributed the boom to the shortfall in cocoa production in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana as a result of unfavourable weather in the two countries.
According to him, the two countries are the top cocoa growers in West Africa, and a shortfall in the countries’ supplies resulted in high demand from Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Enugu State Government, in collaboration with a private investor, WhiteRabbit Agro Ltd., has embarked on establishing cocoa plantations in the state for massive production and processing.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation, Mr Patrick Ubru, said that the pilot plantation of 20 hectares was located in Nkanu East Local Government Area of the state.
“In line with Gov. Peter Mbah’s vision, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation is in partnership with a private investor, WhiteRabbit Agro Ltd., to develop the state government’s Cocoa Initiative and make the state a mass cocoa producer and processor.
“The ministry will also push to spread the initiative to five other local government areas surrounding Nkanu East LGA due to their similarities in topography and soil type.
“We are reaching out to local government areas within that topography and soil type such as Nkanu West, Isi-Uzo, Oji-River, Aninri and Awgu to, at least, do a pilot of 100 hectares of cocoa plantation in each.
“We are pursuing it with the vigour it deserves and we want to ensure that we encourage our people to take to cocoa farming and have large cocoa plantations of their own,” he said.
The commissioner said that the partners in the project were already developing 100,000 high-yielding and early-producing cocoa varieties obtained from Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Ibadan.
Ubru said that the cocoa nursery was located at Amaechi Idodo community in Nkanu East Local Government Area.
“One tonne of cocoa today in the international market goes for 10,500 dollars; in naira, the value is about N16.3 million.
“The governor gave a mandate to the ministry, when we came on board, to develop cocoa farming, and we are head-on doing it and collaborating with all stakeholders,’’ he said.
In Cross River, the cocoa renaissance tune is also reverberating.
Recently, the A A Universal Agro Company, said that Nigeria could earn N900 billion annually from the Ikom Cocoa Export Processing Plant in Cross River when fully operational.
The Managing Director of the agro company, Mr Chris Agara, whose firm is the concessionaire of the cocoa processing plant, said he was in partnership with an Israeli compan, B and Co., a member of the LR Group, to turn around Nigeria’s cocoa industry.
“My firm has a contract grant agreement between the U.S. Government through the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).
“The contract is to carry out feasibility study and bankable business plan to farm and develop cocoa and cassava farms and value chains from farm to table, to international standards and best practice.
“It will be for local uses and export purposes,” he said.
The industrialist said that adopting the firm’s protocols and methodology would increase cocoa yield from its present 400kg per hectare to 3.5 tonnes per hectare.
He urged the Federal Government to give support the firm to enable it to access funds from the International Finance Institute.
“The Federal Government should support us because this funding we are trying to raise is from the International Finance Institute.
“We need guarantee from the Federal Government for this funding.
“We also need guarantee from the state government through a policy, to ensure that Cross River cocoa is processed in Cross River, because most of our cocoa is taken out of the state by merchants.
“Our foreign partner is one of the largest agro companies in Israel; their technology can improve our cocoa farm yields from less than half a tonne to 3.5 or four tonnes, which we want to introduce to farmers.”
Agara said that the organisation would also help farmers to regenerate their farms ttoa higher and better production level.
It is noteworthy that cocoa prices can fluctuate.
Data from AFEX indicates that cocoa prices plunged by 25.73 per cent in early May having hit a historic high of N15, 900 per kilogramme.
Reports also show that the commodity currently sells dor about ₦10,000 per kilogramme after an 18-week low of ₦9,500.
Analysts are optimistic that Nigeria will do more to revamp its cocoa industry to boost foreign exchange, create jobs and improve the economy.
By Chijioke Okoronkwo, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)