Cocoa grants: Nigeria may lose 144,000 Euro on specific fertilizer

Cocoa

About 144,000 Euro given by to Nigeria during the last administration by IDH, a sustainable Cocoa Development Group in collaboration with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) for the development of the soil-specific fertilizer for the produce may soon be withdrawn as the 50% matching fund expected from the country is yet to be paid.

Revealing this at the just concluded Summit on Organic Fertilizer organized for the Northern part of the country and held at Abuja, the immediate past president of Association of Organic Agricultural Practitioners of Nigeria (AOAPN) Prof. J.O Adeoye hinted that the said grant would soon be taken back from International Institute for Tropical Agriculture(IITA) where it was domiciled for cocoa growing states  during the last administration, adding that all efforts must be deployed to ensure Nigeria does not miss the opportunity like Cote d’Ivoire who had already got theirs.

Prof. Adeoye who advocated for the establishment of a Federal Ministry Organic Agriculture for the purpose of what the farmers and entire country stand to gain, especially in the face of sanctions against our produce, pointed out that Nigerian government must do everything to ensure that the grant was not withdrawn, asking:“why is it that the country cannot by now have cocoa-specific fertilizer that would attract more increased yield for commercialization?”

It will be recalled that some few months back, the continued membership of Nigeria in the International Cocoa Organization was threatened due to low production performance even as government has been struggling to diversify the economy through agriculture.

The Executive Director, International Cocoa Organization ( ICCO) Dr. Jean-Mar Angar during the courtesy visit to Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh  said that the present 190,000 tons annual output of Nigeria was far cry from her potential capacity, if production along the value chains are encouraged.

Meanwhile, the minister’s request for modality from the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) towards planting of two million trees annually, for the next three years, was yet be granted as Food Farm News was reliably told that the association has not responded to the demand that was meant to replace most dead cocoa trees in the producing states.