Local producers could earn more revenue from cocoa with analysts forecasting the market size to reach $ 23 billion in 2029.
Last year, Nigeria exports of cocoa and cocoa preparations was $624.35 million, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.
But the Coordinator, Agribusiness & Youth Empowerment, Community of Agricultural Stakeholders of Nigeria, Sotonye Anga, told The Nation that the Federal Government and the private sector could achieve $2 billion worth of exports yearly by 2029.This, he explained, would depend on increasing efforts to support producers to cultivate quality cocoa beans that chocolate makers and traders can pay premium price for.
According to him, achieving a target of $2 billion cocoa export revenue would increase farmers’ income, enabling them to enjoy higher standards of living as well as to invest in more sustainable forms of production.
Cocoa price paid to farmers’ ranges between $1,837 and $2,200 per tonne.
But the government and industry players are demanding $2,500 per tonne. President, Federation of Agricultural Commodities Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr. Victor Iyama, reaffirmed the focus of the association to increase cocoa production.
He said the association was working with the Federal Government to achieve 100 per cent premium cocoa production with 500,000 metric tonnes targets.
According to Iyama, the association was determined to boost cocoa farmers’ incomes, through ramp up efforts for fair treatment and pay and eliminate adverse industry practices for good.
The Executive Director, Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Dr Patrick Adebola, said the institute has developed improved varieties of cocoa, which are early-bearing.
The varieties, according to him, start producing at 18 months and the yield is very high.
He said CRIN could produce at least 500,000 seedlings yearly,which could be doubled to a million or tripled to 1.5 million seedlings.
In line with this, the Federal Government inaugurated 11 man National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) to enable farmers benefit from Living Income Differential (LID) of $400 per tonne along with counterparts in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, in a keynote address at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja, tasked the newly inaugurated the newly inaugurated NCMC as part of its terms of reference on urgent draft charter for the operations of NCMC which will enable an Executive Bill to be forwarded to the National Assembly for legal backing.
He explained that the inauguration is the culmination of enormous collective efforts based on a recent visit by some officials from his Ministry to one of the largest world cocoa producing and exporting countries, Ghana to study the implementation of LID.
According to him, Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire introduced LID, as a premium on their cocoa and as tool to complement their prices of cocoa in international market.
He said Nigeria cannot wait to join Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, and in order to work out modalities for Nigerian cocoa farmers to start benefitting from this initiative like their counterparts in Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire, this committee is being set up.
However, the Minister highlighted challenges in the cocoa industry the Committee is expected to tackle which include; pest and diseases, logistics such as rural roads and infrastructure, old Cocoa plantations, ageing Cocoa farmers, processing, access to finance, environmental concerns such as deforestation, climate change and absence of a National Coordinating body.
Data Bridge Market Research, a global intelligence firm, posited that the international cocoa beans market valued at $ 12.67 billion last year is expected to reach $ $23.77 billion by 2029, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.00 per cent.