‘How Nigeria’s cocoa revenue can hit $1.1b in five years’
If Nigeria deploys measures to increase yield, land area under cultivation, quality of cocoa beans through new techniques in fermentation and sustainable farming, embrace organic certification, and target new markets, it might be able to increase production revenue of the commodity to $1.1 billion by 2025.
This was part of the recommendations made by a team of MBA students
of (University of California at Los Angeles UCLA (USA), sponsored by the
Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), to understudy the demand and supply
situation of Nigerian cocoa in the U.S. market.
To achieve this target, the NEPC said efforts are underway
to partner with research and academic institutions to increase production and
distribution of seedlings to farmers, as well as deploy capacity building on
improved processing to achieve premium cocoa for export.
Speaking during a technical session on value chain export
development and quality conformity for cocoa in Ikom, Cross River State, the
Executive Director/CEO NEPC, Olusegun Awolowo, mentioned that the training was
part of the Cocoa Export Development Project Initiative being promoted by the
Federal Government.
He said it is also in line with the government’s efforts to
diversify Nigeria’s economic base, as well as the NEPC’s Zero-oil Plan
initiative to grow non-oil exports.
Indeed, the technical session was conducted with the goal of
increasing the quantity and quality of Nigerian cocoa geared at easing global
market access.
Awolowo, represented by Afolabi Bello, said Nigerian cocoa
is rated one of the best because of its flavour or aroma, and also the leading
non-oil exportable product, but stagnated production and a decline in quality
affected Nigeria’s global market share in cocoa trade.
Cocoa is among Nigeria’s leading agricultural exports and
constitutes two per cent of its exports annually. It is the country‘s third
largest export after crude petroleum, and liquefied natural gas, thus improved
yield and quality will immensely help local industries.
Although Nigeria plays a leading role in the cocoa industry,
covering 6.5% share of global production of cocoa, the NEPC had expressed
worry, projecting a fall in exports of over $100 million in the domestic sector
as a result of falling prices due to lower demand in Europe.
“Also, in efforts to increase Nigeria’s export of cocoa to
the European market, the Council collaborated with the Centre for the
Development of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), in The Netherlands, to
build capacity of some SME cocoa exporting companies through a one-year
capacity building programme on market access.
“This programme resulted in the selection of four SME cocoa
exporters, who travelled to Europe to meet with the European importers
one-on-one in March 2018,” he added.
The Deputy Governor of Cross River, who was represented by
the Special Adviser on Cocoa Development Project, Dr. Oscar Ofuka, stressed the
need to improve capacity of local producers for increased export earnings.
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