FG, USAID to partner on Cocoa training

cocoa

The United States Agency for International Development USAID is collaborating with the Federal Government to train major service providers in key cocoa producing states on vegetative propagation, to address the dearth of planting materials.


The industry is faced with low productivity at less than 350 tonnes/hectare, and needs cocoa seedlings to cultivate much-needed new cocoa plantations.

According to experts, investments in new plantations are required to replace and expand existing cocoa estates, most of which were cultivated in the pre-independence era.

The Lead Facilitator, Dr Daniel Adewale of the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, Federal University of Oye–Ekiti, Ekiti State, noted that: “Nigeria is no longer getting full economic benefits from growing cocoa because most cocoa fields are old and small, and due to the poor genetic qualities of the planting materials used.”

To this end, he noted that the cultivation of cocoa is no longer profitable for many farmers and as a result of this, the nation’s quantity and quality of cocoa is declining.

Adewale, who is a former scientist with the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), noted that Nigeria produces less than 500kg of dry cocoa beans per hectare.

“This very low level of cocoa production has made it necessary to change the protocol of production,” he argued.

He continued: “Vegetative propagation is the best way to ensure increased production of high quality cocoa pods or beans instead of seedling cultivation, because it enables multiplicity and commercialization of high-yielding strains.”

The crop scientist further explained that vegetative propagation makes it possible to multiply desired cocoa varieties, thereby ensuring “quick replication of highly productive planting materials, production of uniform trees with shortened gestation periods and cocoa plants which are protected against diseases.”

The Consultant to the USAID/Nigeria NEXTT project, Mr Remi Osijo, identified the massive investment opportunities in the cocoa industry and the possibility of further growth, if young farmers are supported to expand their farms from less than one hectare to about five hectares.

“There was an urgent need to encourage investments in commercial cultivation of nuclear cocoa estates, not just for increased productivity but because of the scale of the operations and services that will be rendered. This will ultimately address the issues of Nigeria’s cocoa beans, as the fermentation, drying, ware housing and branding will be done appropriately and these services will certainly be extended to the atomized/local farmers around the estate.

“Just imagine the scale and number of jobs that will be created from this venture, with Nigeria earning more revenue as premium price will certainly be paid for such standardized cocoa beans all over the world,” Osijo said.

A Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Dr Ranjana Bhattacharjee, stressed the  need for Nigeria to quickly bridge the gap in its cocoa production.

He said: “Globally, the chocolate and cocoa industry are in crisis due to low productivity which is failing to meet a growing demand that is increasing by two per cent annually,” hence the need for Nigeria to urgently seize this opportunity of growing global demand by increasing its falling cocoa production.