Cocoa farmers have been advised to replace their old cocoa trees, which have reduced yields, with new ones to boost production.
Mr Michael Afolabi, an Agriculture Extension Officer, gave the advice in an interview with the reporters on Friday at Usi in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti.
Afolabi said that replacement of the old trees would sustain the future of the cocoa industry and allow farmers to begin reaping high quantity and quality cocoa beans in few years of planting.
He called on the Ministry of Agriculture in both state and Federal Ministries in the cocoa producing states to establish nurseries in every Local Government.
This he said was to enable farmers have enough seedlings of the new variety to replant their old cocoa farms.
Afolabi further appealed to government to introduce more incentives to support young Nigerians who want to venture into the cultivation of cocoa, saying such would motivate them to embrace farming.
He said that urgent steps needed to be taken to attract more young people into cocoa farming, to replace aging farmers.
He said that doing this would prevent drastic reduction in the production of cocoa in the country.
Afolabi called on cocoa farmers to adhere strictly to the use of recommended chemicals on cocoa farms in order to reap high quality cocoa beans.
He urged them to also spray cocoa trees with both insecticide and fungicide regularly to control pod diseases.
The officer noted that allowing cocoa pods to over ripe would reduce quality and have negative effect on the value of the cocoa beans when dried.
He appealed to farmers not to wait for too long before plucking ripe cocoa pods and allow the beans to ferment before drying them in the sun.