Cocoa: FG approves plan, stakeholders set for commission bill

The Federal ExecutiveCouncil  (FEC) under the former President Mohamadu Buhari has approved a ten (10) year plan for the development of cocoa production in such a way to reflect what is obtainable in other neighboring countries. Meanwhile a proposal has also been put in place by the stakeholders for a bill that will see to the extablishment of a cocoa commission in Nigeria.

 The National Cocoa Co-ordinator in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Mr. Ajayi Olutobaba disclosed this to Food Farm News in his office in Abuja last week Monday.

Mr. Ajayi Olutobaba said that the FEC has approved a ten year action plan for the development of cocoa between (2023 to 2032 ), saying it is anticipated that the decision would enhance the produce's competitiveness and productivity in Nigeria.

He stressed that the action plan would help the country to generate more income as job and wealth are expected to be more created based on robust strategies contained in the document to improve production, processing and marketing.

He also noted  that the plan is targeted to achieve sustainable cocoa economy, that will increase the foreign exchange earnings for the country.

Olutobaba also revealed that stakeholders in the recently created cocoa management committee are also pursuing the establishment of a cocoa commission, which is set to be pushed with a bill in the National Assembly.

According to him, when the commission is created, it will help to regulate sharp practices in the produce productivity as being practiced in Ghana.

Read the executive summary of the 10 year action plan approved by the FEC below

Cocoa is Nigeria’s primary non-crude oil export earning commodity, providing income to federal and state governments, and millions of families in the main cocoa producing communities and other stakeholders across the cocoa value chain. However, from a peak of nearly 310,000 metric tonnes in the 1970/71 trading season, and the number 2 cocoa producing country in the world, Nigeria has degraded in production to just about 190,000 metric tonnes during the 2016/2017 Season and number 7 in the world. As production dwindled, quality equally suffered, with Nigerian cocoa being discounted by buyers.  

 

Successive attempts led by the government to revive the industry have been without a holistic approach and a sustainable plan of action. Since 1999, 2 major intervention efforts have been implemented – the National Cocoa Development Committee and the Cocoa Transformation Agenda. Whereas each of these interventions worked with some stakeholders, they lacked the key elements of universal buy-in by the practitioners and were thus rendered unsustainable. 

 

It is against this backdrop that the International Cocoa Conference held in Abuja in August 2017 unanimously resolved that a National Cocoa Plan, that would address the anomalies in the industry and provide leadership for the critical cocoa economy, be immediately put together. The Plan was to incorporate the needs and aspirations of the country and cocoa stakeholders, thus making it universally acceptable, harmonize with national economic and development policies and align with the global cocoa agenda. 

 

In accordance with the overarching vision of promoting a sustainable cocoa economy  that is the leading GDP contributor, through a resurgence in production and industrialization to trigger robust domestic consumption, farmgate prosperity, youth engagement and increased foreign exchange earnings from the export of consistently superior quality beans and products; this document covers 10 strategic pillars for realizing an expanded and sustainable cocoa economy, designed to cater for the entire cocoa value chain – production, farmer aggregation and strengthening, marketing and trade, processing, cocoa research, extension services, consumption, access to financial services, cocoa resources and planning, and institutional framework. 

 The National Cocoa Plan (NCP) projects annual cocoa production from 230,000 metric tonnes in 2020/2021 to 714,000 metric tonnes in 2029/2030 cocoa season. This will be achieved with a 37.7% increase in land area cultivated to cocoa from the current 657,143ha to 905,000ha, productivity up by 125.4% from 350kg/ha to 789kg/ha. Income from cocoa is expected to go from the current $462m to $3.2bn or 595% over a 10-year period. 

 

A budget of N303billion is projected, where the funding is to be sourced from 5 key partners – Federal Government (27%), Cocoa Producing States (13%), Cocoa Producing Local Government Areas (5%), Private Sector (30) and Donor Agencies (25%). The key elements of the budget are (i) Production, productivity and product quality (28.93%); (ii) Farmer aggregation and strengthening of farmer organizations (19.88%); Strengthening institutional and governance framework (16.43%); Strengthening local cocoa processing capacity (8.75%). The balance of 26.01% cover other strategic pillars – enhancing market efficiency and trade integrity (7.23%); strengthening of extension delivery mechanism (6.43%); deepening domestic consumption of cocoa products (3.40%); enhancing availability and accessibility of reliable data on cocoa economy (2.61%) and strengthening and deepening cocoa research and innovation (1.77%). 

 

Income from export and local sale of cocoa beans and derivatives will gradually move from N375.99bn in 2021 to N1.38tn in 2030. The income will come from cocoa beans export (up from N122.53b in 2021 to N208.10bn in 2030), derivatives (from N97.69bn to N461.11bn), and domestic market (from N155.77bn to N716.34bn). 

 

A minimum of 550,000 jobs will be created at the upstream of the cocoa value chain, with most of these entering into production, farmgate trade and marketing and conversion of cocoa farm byproducts by micro and small businesses in local communities. At the downstream, new products will be developed as awareness deepens on the health and nutritional benefits of cocoa and dark chocolates. 

 

This Plan is completely in harmony with the Nigerian Agricultural and Industrial Policy Framework as well as the Agricultural Promotion Policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria. It is also in sync with the strategic pillars of the Global Cocoa Agenda – (1) 

Sustainable Cocoa Production; (2) Sustainable Cocoa Industry; (3) Sustainable Cocoa Consumption; and (4) Strategic Management. Therefore, while there will be increase in production, there will be corresponding greater increase in local utilization of cocoa and cocoa products.  

 

The Plan emphasizes the need for a regulatory agency, powered by the public sector and managed by private sector stakeholders, in line with global best practices. This body shall be responsible for the administration of the cocoa economy from inputs through consumption.