President asks C/River Governor to stop cocoa, other regulation

*  Says Government agency should be last resort buyer 

The President, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr. Victor Iyama has asked the Governor of Cross Rivers State, Prof. Ben Ayade to discontinue the pursuit of cocoa and other agricultural produce regulation through an obnoxious law, saying it is economically retrogressive to farmers and other stakeholders at the value chains of productivity.

 Dr. Victor Iyama in an exclusive interview with Food Farm News frowned at the step being taken on a bill sponsored by Hon. Hilary E. Bisong at the state Assembly that had passed second reading with a public hearing held 16 November 2022 as being not considering many other economic effects such law will negatively impact on agricultural development in the state, adding that farmers will be deprived from freely selling their cocoa or other produce to buyers of their choice.

 Iyama said the issue would be officially reported to the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu so as to prevail on the Governor to discontinue such a retrogressive policy that is being intended to stripe farmers off their right to sell to any buyer of their choice as agricultural produce would be disallowed to exit the state without government permissions, queried such action and advised that government agency would be rather preferred as last buyer resort to what farmers cannot sell.

He argued that Nigerian cocoa farmers are better faring than their Ghanaian counterparts where the farmers have been short-changed through their cocoa board regulatory system, stressed that’’ going the path of disallowing farmers to sell to buyers of their choice is like bringing back the woe of cocoa board years of policy suffering of price exploitation which was the reason former President Ibrahim Babangida abolished the board for the open market economy over thirty-six years ago’’

FACAN President expressed that he would have expected any sensitive Government to rather concentrate on incentifying farmers with agricultural inputs and extension training to enhance productivity and remain the last buyer resort than embarking on an obnoxious law that will short change pricing rights of farmers to selling to self individuals under the guise of government regulatory establishment that has no value to the entire agricultural value chains.

According to Iyama '‘We are using this occasion to call on the APC chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu to use his office to prevail on Governor Ayade to desist from the pursuit of this law that is already at the state Assembly receiving attention. We the body of FACAN and Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) are against the proposed law to establish a regulatory government body to regulate the marketing of agricultural produce in the state. The new law will not in any way benefit farmers, but will rather create unemployment to their children who had already been engaged in the value chains of cocoa productivity and other agricultural produce just as exporters and other stakeholders in the value chain of all these crops will also be rendered jobless. We preferred a government agency that will act as the last buyer of all agricultural produce in order to encourage them to quickly returning back to the farm than being totally taken over the produce buying in the state’’