Nigerian cocoa farmers seek adequate FG’s funding to drive sustainable production

Cocoa farmers in Africa’s most populous country are seeking adequate funding from the federal government to drive sustainability and compliance with the new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) law on producing cocoa beans.

The country’s farmers association has urged the government to transform and adequately fund the National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) saddled with the responsibility of regulating the commodity production and compliance of the EUDR in the country.

They also called on the government to subsidise inputs for farmers to boost the production of cocoa in 2025 while making it attractive for youths to participate.

“NCMC was put in place in August 2022 by the past administration due to pressures mounted by the smallholder cocoa farmers of Nigeria under Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) that condemned the total free market of the cocoa industry without regulation,” Adeola Adegoke, director general of the Roundtable Initiative said in a statement.

Adegoke who is also the national president of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria said NCMC is also established to address challenges impacting farmers’ productivity and the framework for the EUDR implementation – which if not adopted poses serious challenges to the country’s cocoa market.

Read also: Nigeria’s cocoa farmers target sustainable production

According to him, adequate financing of the sector will help maintain the current momentum in the industry fuelled by the recent global price rally and farmers’ desire to grow cocoa sustainably.

Data from the country’s foreign trade report shows that cocoa exports surged by 304 percent in the first quarter of 2024 owing to the global price rally and weak naira.

The country’s cocoa exports, which accounted for 42.4 percent of the N1.04 trillion agricultural exports for the period, surged to N438.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024 from N108,6 billion in the corresponding period of 2023.

Historic high cocoa prices and steep naira devaluation that resulted in a sharp increase in the naira income from cocoa exports, helped Nigerian cocoa farmers to make more money this year than their counterparts in Ivory Coast and Ghana. This prompted more farmers to invest in their cocoa farms to produce more.

Speaking on the role NCMC has played since its establishment, the national president said since its setting -up in 2022, it has helped address some challenges in the sector, however, inadequate funding has hampered its operations.

“Funding has continuously affected the operations of the committee sustainability responsibilities in the area of quality control, contract arbitration to safe guide investors funding, child labour monitoring & remediation, deforestation and afforestation program, capacity building & development.”

“Also, its ability to carry out cocoa and agroforestry intensification, tackle post-harvest challenges, traceability, climate change, and monitor and evaluate various sustainability projects/activities, among others.”

“We urge President Tinubu, governors of the cocoa-producing states and lovers of the Nigerian cocoa industry to look into the funding and legal framework support to NCMC through the National Assembly to save the industry from regulatory lapses that could undermine the present gains of high cocoa prices.”