The Nation Newspaper

Tag: COCOA

  • Nigeria may not double cocoa output by next year, says expert

    Nigeria may not be on track to increase cocoa output to 500,000 tonnes next year,the   Chief  Executive, Centre for Cocoa Initiative, Mr Robo Adhuze, has said.

    This  follows  the inability of  farmers to receive enough higher-yielding seeds, low level of rejuvenation of old farms and poor improvements in agricultural practices.

    Though heavy rainfall and poor sunshine have been reported  across  cocoa-growing region of the  country, Adhuze said  this  may not  affect farmers.

    His concern, however is lack of  enough inputs to boost local production.

    Reports said earlier that farmers are getting increasingly worried about bean quality and black pod disease in the wake of heavier rains. Besides preventing mould, sunny weather is also needed for bigger bean size. Farmgate prices in Cross Rivers has fallen around eight per cent to 440,000 naira ($2,700) per tonne compared with 480,000 naira at the end of July due to mould with levels as high as 18-21 per cent, compared with the three per cent that is considered acceptable. The Cross River region produces about 75,000 tons of cocoa annually, out of a national output of 300,000 tonnes.

    The Cocoa Association of Nigeria noted that farmers had put off the harvest to September and that heavy rains had brought fungal black pod disease, because farmers were unable to spray their pods.

    No official figures for the 2013/2014 cocoa output have been released. The International Cocoa Organisation has estimated the 2013/14 crop at 250,000 tonnes. Cocoa exports from Nigeria rose 41 per cent to 8,990 tons in July compared with a month earlier, the nation’s Federal Produce Inspection Service, which certifies exports noted.

    The Cocoa Research Institute [CRI] said The Nation is on track to increase cocoa output to 500,000 tonnes next year after distribution of new, higher-yielding seeds, rejuvenation of old farms and improvements in agricultural practices. In 2012, the government announced plans to double output by 2015 from 250,000 tonnes in an effort to diversify exports away from oil.

  • Cocoa farmers’ many challenges

    Cocoa farmers’ many challenges

    Nigeria and other West African countries supply two-thirds of the world’s cocoa. But getting  the benefits to trickle down to local  farmers is challenge, writes DANIEL ESSIET.

    Bernard Ukata (not real name) owns a three-hectare  cocoa farm in Edo State. He inherited the farm from his father and applied the farming techniques he learnt from his father . He spends an average of N350,000 annually to maintain one of the three hectares .

    Although he is known as one of the most experienced farmers in his community, he has never achieved the expected yield. He works  hard, but continuesto struggle to maintain the farm and protect it against pests and diseases’ attack.

    He employs good agricultural, environmental and social techniques as strategies. At the end, he sells his produce for export and makes about $3,500 per tonne, hardly making  good profit. Hampered by his limited bargaining power with cocoa buyers, Ukata and other farmers are  forced  to accept whatever price they are offered at the farm gate.

    Low cocoa prices, combined with poor productivity and vulnerability to price downturns in volatile commodity markets, often make Ukata and others struggle to make enough income to cover production costs. Ukata is one of the several thousands of farmers, who have   taken   to  cocoa production  because  of  the  reported  good  earnings  from its export, but only to discover  that it was not  as easy as they thought.

    Speaking with The Nation, the Chief Executive, Centre for Cocoa Initiatives, Mr Robo Adhuze said the  cocoa sector is facing sustainability crisis.

    Cocoa farmers, according to him,  face challenges that make it difficult for them to realise the true potential of cocoa farming. The fragile nature of cocoa tree makes it vulnerable to pests and diseases. Each year, farmers lose between 30 per cent to 100 per cent of their cocoa farm to pests and diseases. The limited number of improved seeds or planting material also means that farmers are harvesting from old trees that  produce low yields.

    The limited knowledge of new, more efficient farming techniques has reduced crop yields and incomes, just as lack of organisation among farmers’ groups has limited their ability to purchase supplies at a lower cost. It has equally hampered them from accessing helpful market information and secure better prices for their produce.

    Cocoa, he explained,  is still nursed in primitively as against mechanised way. Farmers’ families work together with varying roles from planting  seedlings, clearing the forest canopy, pruning and watching over the trees, to harvesting and breaking the pods, fermenting the seeds and drying the beans. Other tasks include ferrying the dried cocoa beans bags on their backs  to the buyers, which may be some kilometres  away.

    Experts said the booming consumption in Asia  is expected to increase the demand for cocoa in the $100 billion chocolate industry by about one  million tonnes, or around a quarter of world’s production by 2020.

    Adhuze said while it is difficult  for small farmers to cope with the influence of chocolate companies  in  dictating the prices of cocoa,   majority of them work on small farms of not more than two hectares, which are too small to guarantee better returns.

    According  to  him, cocoa prices are being dictated by the global chocolate industry.

    The farmers, he  said, have little chances of getting a fair price for their produce if they don’t know how much other markets beyond their villages are willing to pay.

    Since income from cocoa farming is generally low and unpredictable farmers are finding it difficult to invest in their farms and businesses.

    Consequently, he said, there is  need for the industry to  work out methods to  protect small farmers.

    Calling for   fair pricing, he stressed the need to link the chocolate manufacturers directly with cocoa growers and allow messages about techniques and labour rights to be more easily discussed and monitored.

    The President, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr Victor Iyama said when an average world commodity prices rise, profits tend to go mostly to large trading companies, not to the small-scale farmers.

    He  added  that poor farmers don’t profit from price gyrations on the world market since they must sell at harvest because they can’t afford to stockpile. Most profits go to middlemen and traders.

    He said local farmers are being exploited by the foreign chocolate companies. These companies through agents purchase cocoa from farmers at a set price, distribute and sell it on the world market. This has left small farmers directly at the mercy of world market prices.

    According to experts, the cocoa future market, originally set up for large chocolate companies could guarantee their input prices for a season. To them, it has become an important commodities’ market where most of the trading are carried out purely on speculation. The result, according to them, has seen larger and more rapid price movements, which are extremely difficult for the small farmers to bear.

    According to the Programme Coordinator, Farmers Development Union(FADU), Mr Victor Olowe,  farmers  are paid poorly for cocoa they harvest, carrying heavy loads, using machetes to clear their land and inhale harmful pesticides in their daily work schedule.

    Pesticides are commonly used to control bugs and viruses that harm the cocoa plant.  Most of the farmers use pesticides, which have been found to cause headaches, nausea, diarrhea, liver and kidney complications and cancer.

    According to him, cocoa farmers  live in poverty as prices paid to them by buyers are often incredibly low.

    He noted that his organisation was making effort to get  premium prices for cocoa farmers.

    In the words of Olowe, farmers, who have  gone  through certification programmes would receive higher prices than conventional ones.

    On the whole, Olowe said fair trade standards support farmers’ long-term development by fostering strong producer organisations, sustainable farming practices and social compliance.

    As a requirement, he said, cocoa producers must meet all core criteria, but can prioritise the development criterion that is most important to them.

    Through  such  a training, he  said,   farmers improve productivity and quality; have a sustainable tree and pest management; anti-child labour and environmental protection.

    For transformational change to come to the cocoa sector, the  President, Association of  Small business Owners of  Nigeria(ASBON), Dr  Femi Egbesola  said it would involve the participation of all actors.

    According to him, there should be  a renewed interest in shoring up agriculture as an avenue for economic growth and, more broadly, for development of the continent. He  said  the  government  must invest in small cocoa farmers and not the big ones.

    He  believed  a total revamp of the agricultural sector would bring about a return to the old days when Nigeria  was producing enough to feed herself, and agriculture contributed about 40 per cent  of the country’s foreign exchange earnings through exports.

    Analysts say it is practically impossible for farmers to meet the target of tripling output to 500,000 tonnes by 2020 given the situation of things because  trees require six years to hit the peak in production.

    Meanwhile, the  Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce(NBCC), has blamed the bad image given locally produced cocoa in the world market, on activities of the get-rich-quick exporters.

    Speaking at the launch of the Ondo Kingdom Chamber of Commerce (OKCC), NBCC President, Prince Yemi Adefulu, said standardisation and quality control were thrown out of the window when the marketing boards were scrapped. The country, he noted,  has not recovered from the reputation damage arising from the misdemeanor.

    “Nigeria earned a reputation for poor quality from which we suffer to this day. Prices of Nigerian cocoa crashed and farmers became discouraged and lost the incentive to plant new cocoa seedlings or expand existing plantations. Consequently, many abandoned the farms.

    We are probably now the 10th producer of cocoa in the world. It is, however, not only farmers and cocoa merchants who suffered, the local economy which was buoyant in the days of the cocoa boom became dislocated,” he said.

    He added: “Traders, transporters, labourers, the local government, the state and the nation all suffered in the process. But the greatest loss of all was the reputation damage.”

    According to him, such a calamity could have been avoided if there was an effective Chamber of Commerce in Ondo State. Every major step which changed history, according to him, was be an appropriate and timely  response to a challenge.

    He said: “It could have fought the abandonment of standards and if the government did not listen,  it could have created and established an Ondo Standards, which if well protected and projected, could have become a recognised global standard of quality.

    “There are chambers of commerce, which issue export documentations and help to authenticate standards. It is all part of being the watch-dog of the concerns and interests of the business community and reaching to government at the highest levels and affecting trade policy development.”

    He said a properly managed Ondo should be exporting cocoa butter, creams, chocolates and other cocoa based products from cottage industries.

  • Nigeria sees cocoa output more than double

    Nigeria’s cocoa production is expected to more than double within three years after farmers were supplied with better-yielding seeds, Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources Akinwunmi Adesina said.

    Nigeria has given farmers hybrid seedlings to boost yields fivefold, Adesina spoke in an interview with Bloomberg Television Africa in Abuja, the capital.

    “In another  two and a half  to three years, you’re going to see a huge bump in the production of cocoa,” the minister said. We expect that within a couple of years you will see that jump to 800,000 metric tonnes a year”.

    Nigeria is the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer behind Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia, according to the London-based International Cocoa Organisation. Nigeria’s production was 240,000 tonnes this season, according to the organisation. The minister estimated it at 350,000 tonnes.

    “We can afford to lose to the Elephants of Ivory Coast and the Black Stars of  Ghana in soccer, but not in cocoa. So we are after them,” the minister said, referring to the national teams of Nigeria’s cocoa-growing rivals.

    Ivory Coast produced 1.73 million tonnes of cocoa in the current season while Ghana produced 920,000 tonnes, according to the International Cocoa Organisation. Cocoa futures traded in London jumped 16 percent this year to 2,005 pounds ($3,269) a ton today on the Liffe exchange.

    At the same time, Nigeria is expanding its rice production, part of a government drive to reduce annual food imports of more than $10 billion, he said.  

    The country aims to be a net exporter of rice in three years, the minister said.

    “Every single day, I have people coming to my office who want to do rice, not import,” said Adesina, citing Singapore-based Olam International Ltd (OLAM) and Nigeria’s Dangote Group’s investments. Olam said in 2012, it was investing $50 million in its rice farm in the central Nasarawa State. Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote is investing $1 billion in local rice production.

    “Rice is the most profitable commodity in Nigeria,” with a rate of return for investing in rice sitting between 42 and 45 percent, Adesina said.

    Africa’s most populous nation of about 170 million people would first have to become self-sufficient, the minister said.

    In the 2013-14 marketing year, Nigeria produced about 2.77 million tonnes of rice and imported three million tonnes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The gap between that and local consumption of 6 million tonnes a year, the biggest in Africa, was met from stocks.  

    Nigeria also imported 4.55 million tonnes of wheat, the most in sub-Saharan Africa, and 1.47 million tonnes of sugar.

    As part of its drive to boost local crop production Nigeria is encouraging seed companies to set up and expand and is considering legalising the use of genetically modified seeds and food.

    Monsanto Co. (MON), the world’s largest seedmaker, and Syngenta AG (SYNN), the fourth-largest, are some of the companies expanding their operations in Nigeria, as the country seeks to pass regulations to allow the use of GMOS.

    While in Africa, GMOs are permitted in South Africa. They are barred in many countries on the continent and the cultivation of most biotech crops is banned in the European Union.

    “I  make absolutely no apologies at all for Nigeria to use modern science,” Adesina said. “What is important is regulation. You have to make sure that you are regulating properly, that you’re looking at impact and the risks and you are managing them.”

    Concerned that farmers often lose as much as half of their harvest, the government is working with investors who plan to put $250 million in building warehouses that “will help us significantly in reducing the losses,” Adesina said. The creation of 14 “staple crop processing zones” will further help reduce losses, potentially adding $9 billion to the GDP, he said.

  • Fed Govt urged to support cocoa farmers

    The Federal Government has been urged to support farmers to reposition cocoa in the international market by improving on quality to prevent rejection by chocolate producers.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Cocoa Initiative, Mr Robo Adhuze, said multinational firms interested in secured supplies of the commodities had announced that they would no longer accept uncertified cocoa produce from West African farmers by 2020.

    He noted that the quality requirement for food produce exports into major markets were becoming increasing stringent with demand for certifications which the local producers cannot afford.

    For this reason, he advised farmers to act fast and improve the quality of the produce to export high priced cocoa that will led to increase in revenue.

    While steady growth has transformed the chocolate industry, he said farmers were still given peanuts as earnings.

    According to him, growers still receive less than the final value of a chocolate bar.

    The lower prices paid to farmers result in lower productivity and poverty in farming.

    He urged chocolate firms to improve  on the prices afforded farmers by offering them fair trade rates.

    According to him, fair trade value will boost income levels for rural households, making a notable difference to quality of life for farmers who under the cocoa industry.

  • ‘Empower cocoa farmers’

    The key to alleviating hunger, poverty and combating climate change may lie in fresh, small-scale approaches to cocoa  farming, the Programme  Coordinator, Farmers Development Union(FADU), Mr. Victor Olowe, has  said.

    Addressing the  Second   Kokodola Farmers’ Day, in Ilesa,Osun State, Olowe  called for small-scale initiatives that take poverty and hunger relief.

    He  noted  that farmers  need  all the  incentives to produce more food to meet the growing population needs, a more effective way to address food security issues and climate change would be to encourage self-sufficiency and waste reduction, in wealthier and poorer nations alike.

    On  the  exhibition hosted by  his  organisation,Olowe  explained that it  meant to  showcase  local efforts by  farmers  to  improve  cocoa production.

    According to him,   FADU is  involved in  promoting  community credit associations to  enable  farmers  access credit.

    To  enable  cocoa farmers  add value  to their  cocoa beans and earn more  income, Olowe said  his  organisation  partners  Sygenta, CRIN, Continaf, Oxfamnovib and other  international  organisations to  train  farmers  on  responsible  farming  practice.

    In particular, he   said  small   farmers stand to gain from improvements in  certified  cocoa production  as  an integral part of strategies to promote agricultural output andproductivity growth. To achieve this, he  said his  organisation is  constraintsas well as disabling issues  that undermine the development of the  sub sector.

    The Managing Director, Continaf Nigeria Limited,Mr. Arajulu Olatunbosun, noted that   when his  organisation  started the Kokodola project, farmers were skeptical about it.

    According  to him,  it was difficult for most of the farmers to adopt the changes  the  project brought.

    He   said  they  were  reaping  from the  reward of  responsible  farming  practice as  they  witnessed improved  productivity and  increased  income. One   problem  facing cocoa farmers,he  noted,  was  how  to  transport  the dried cocoa bean  from farm settlements to the warehouse. He promised that Continaf would provide vehicles to ease transportation.

    He praised the cocoa farmers for their immense support which  led  to the success of the project.

    A representative of Oxfam Novib, Mr. John Ajigo, reiterated  the  commitment  of his  organisation  to fight  the use of  child labourers  on  the  farms.

    While  he  supported  early  introduction of  young people  to agriculture, Ajigo urged older  farmers  not   to deprive their children of education which is the bedrock for their future.

    The Farmers’ Day is an occasion where farmers are brought together to interact and share the success stories and challenges faced in carrying out their farming activities, with the hope that they will copy good practices from each other.

    About 500 farmers got premium during this Farmers’ Day. To add colour to the day, farmers exhibition tagged farmers’ market was put in place.

  • Politicians hijack cocoa fund, says CAN President

    The President of Cocoa Association of Nigeria CAN Mr Sayina Riman,  has cried fowl over  the  N540 million allegedly disbursed to cocoa farmers in the country.

    Riman, who  spoke to  The Nation, said  despite the determination  and tenacity of purpose of the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina  towards  cocoa farmers, “the implementations are far below expectation.”

    According to him, “if you are talking about accessibility of fund for cocoa farmers, the policy is not farmer’s friendly most of the banks that are saddled with this responsibility are far away from the farmers, the Bank of Industry, Agric Bank and a host of others. They put a cumbersome operational policy that was difficult for most of the illiterate cocoa farmers to understand, that is why the farmers have put their fate into their hands,”

    The CAN President lamented that “most of the agricultural  incentives went to the civil servants and their cronies. If you go to them, they will tell you that the farmers have accessed so much. If as the President of CAN,  own about 200 hectares of cocoa, yet l cannot benefit ordinary chemical incentive from the Federal Government what do you think other cocoa farmers will benefit?

    He explained that the major task before the association is how to get the data base of all the cocoa farmers.

    “As  a body, we are taking the data base and want to get all the particulars of genuine cocoa farmers in the country, we are still talking to the minister of agriculture and  commerce to be a partner  and fund the Geo-Physical Survey, GPS of all the cocoa farm in the country for easy accessibility and for research purpose.

    “This will go a long way to access any fund because we would know who get what at a particular time. You can  go to the farmers to ask if they access any of the acclaimed incentive. If they say yes, the system is through,” he said.

  • Cocoa records seven percent increase

    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)  said  Nigeria has recorded  a seven per cent  increase in cocoa production forecasts to almost 300,000 tonnes for 2013/14, adding that the success of local  cocoa farmers in achieving UTZ certification was “shoring up demand and prices for Nigerian cocoa at the international market”.

    According to USDA, “over the last five years, Nigerian grower prices increased more than 50 per cent to the  average” of US$3,000/tonne. This is supporting efforts to rehabilitate abandoned farms and extend the area under cocoa.

    Under its Cocoa Transformation Action Plan, the government is looking to expand cocoa production by 40 per cent to 500,000 tonnes by 2015. The country has vast land resources suitable for cocoa production, but the broader innovations that government programmes have tried to promote have not yet taken off.

    In a report, USDA identified a range of factors limiting cocoa production in Nigeria to include:    the scarcity and high costs of farm labour, the non-availability and low utilisation of fertiliser, climate change, poor road access in major cocoa-producing area and  insufficient levels of input subsidies in support of farm-level investments, due to weaknesses in delivery mechanisms.

    The USDA believes the next year’s production target is unlikely to be attained.

    The  Department  also  observed  that  local processing of cocoa increased between 2010 and 2012, fuelled by an export incentive rebate programme, but that   the suspension of this programme in 2012 “following ‘sharp practices’ in cocoa export reporting by certain exporters” has subsequently discouraged local processing.

  • Nigeria’s cocoa prices fall as mold reduces bean quality

    Nigeria’s cocoa prices fall as mold reduces bean quality

    Cocoa prices received by Nigeria’s declined as mold induced by heavy rains reduced the quality of the chocolate ingredient, said Socodevi, an organisation working on improving crops in Nigeria.

    Farmgate prices in the Cross River belt dropped eight per cent to N440,000 ($2,714) a metric ton, compared with N480,000 at the end of July, Neji Abang, Country Coordinator for Socodevi, a Quebec City, Canada-based organisation, said in a telephone interview yesterday from Ikom in Cross River State.

    “High mold caused by heavy rains affected crop quality, leading to lower pricing of beans by exporters,” said Neji, who is training farmers in the country how to raise output and bean quality. “The mold level is as high as 21 per cent compared with three per cent that is internationally acceptable.”

    The Cross River region produces about 75,000 tons of cocoa annually, out of a national output of 300,000 tons. Cocoa exports from Nigeria rose 41 per cent to 8,990 tons in July compared with a month earlier, the nation’s Federal Produce Inspection Service, which certifies exports, said yesterday.

    Socodevi is training farmers “on best pruning practices,” to reduce the effect of mold, Neji said. “We are asking farmers to reduce unwanted branches to enable sunlight to penetrate their farms for the main crop harvest.”

    The main crop harvest in the southern Edo state, accounting for 15 per cent of the nation’s output, has been slowed by mold of up to 30 percent owing to the rains, Aminu Yakubu, spokesman for the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, said in a separate interview in Benin. The rainy season, which runs from May to October in the area, has brought heavy precipitation this month, he said.

  • Cocoa association urge to support govt

    The Cross River Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr James Aniyom, has enjoined the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) to always appreciate the state government policies in the interest of the state.

    Aniyom made the call in Calabar at an interactive meeting with CAN officials and cocoa farmers to resolve the issue over compliance with cocoa levy.

    He said the meeting was an attempt to resolve the problems between the ministry and the association.

    The commissioner stressed the need for the officials of the association to first see themselves as Cross Riverians and allow the love of the state to be paramount in their actions.

    He expressed displeasure over the open protest by the association to register their disagreement with government of the levy, saying that his office was open to dialogue.

    He reminded them of the need for them to pay their tax or any levy imposed by the government.

    “It is a serious offence for an individual or association not to pay tax or levy to government when necessary, ‘’ he said.

    Aniyom called on CAN members to work toward setting up a cocoa processing plant as a way to boost the cocoa industry in the country.

    Responding,National President of CAN, Mr. Sayina  Riman, commended state government for resolving the crises in the sector, and expressed optimistic that the ongoing dialogue would be fruitful.

  • ‘High cocoa price could boost investments’

    High cocoa prices reported  at the global market may encourage farmers to increase investments, the Chief Executive, Centre for Cocoa Initiative Mr Robo Adhuze  has  said.

    He said to break even farmers  need to invest to improve productivity,  adding  that a lot is required  in terms of husbandry to control diseases through insecticide and fungicide.

    According to him, there is no high profit with the prices of insecticides and fungicide rising across the industry.

    He said  the  farmers  will be more inclined to buy input with the prices of  cocoa  rising but  the  costs of fertiliser, pesticides and fungicides should be considerate with increased demand.

    The International Cocoa Organisation forecast a global cocoa deficit of 75,000 tonnes in 2013/14.

    Officials have suggested next season will also finish with a shortfall.

    The deficit should translate next season to an increase of the farmgate price, which was fixed at 750 CFA francs ($1.55) per kg at the beginning of the 2013/14 season.

    Meanwhile, fairtrade cocoa farmers in West Africa are investing in their farms, crop infrastructure and communities – but they need deeper, long-term partnerships to drive change. Thus concludes a new report ‘Fairtrade Cocoa in West Africa’ released by Fairtrade International and Fairtrade Africa.

    The report reveals Fairtrade certified cocoa farmer organisations chose to spend 36 per cent of their Fairtrade Premium on projects to increase the productivity of members’ farms and the quality of their cocoa – far above Fairtrade International’s suggested 25 per cent  minimum. Fairtrade provides defined premiums of $200 per tonne paid directly to farmers’ organisations and managed at the sole discretion of farmers via their general assembly.

    Approximately 140,000 cocoa farmers in West Africa areFairtrade certified.

    Fairtrade is working with some of the smallest and most disadvantaged cocoa farmers in the region. Their averageplot size is 2.6 hectares. On average, Fairtrade farmers inGhana farm the smallest plots.

    Nine out of 10 West African Fairtrade cocoa farmers arein Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The rest are in Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Togo, and Sâo Tomé and Príncipe.