Cocoa competitiveness: Stakeholders want Increased Consumption in Nigeria

Stakeholders in the value chain of cocoa productivity have suggested the need to encourage local consumptions in order to make the price of the agricultural produce more competitive in the global market being an essential ingredient in the confectionary, food &beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetic.

They emphasised the health benefits of a daily cup of cocoa on the body against stress and radicals.  

How can you be competitive as a nation in a produce your people do not consume?  Asked the former President, Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) who is presently the chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), Federation of Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr. Victor Iyama who  posited that Nigerian Government at the Federal, States and Local Governments must wake up in the resuscitation of the produce if they are actually ready to make it more competitive in the global market saying what is the population of Nigerians that are consuming the end products of the produce to the numbers in America and other countries who are actually dictating the price.

Iyama stressed the need for stakeholders in both the private and public sectors to up their game in terms of proactive policies initiation and implementation that would drive and harness our population advantage in the cocoa economy in terms of marketing through increased consumption saying that the beans would be continued to be exported except the needful is done in our consumption volume to equate the way we consume cassava in various derivatives.

All effort in the past two decades to rebirth the produce have been jettisoned through policy summersault especially during the regime of the Former President Olusegun Obasanjo who brought cocoa farmers and all other stakeholders at the value chains together under the National Cocoa Development Committee ( NCDC) chaired by Erelu Olusola Obada for the purpose of increasing production from 190,000 metric ton to about 700, 000 with possibility of more export and local value addition for more consumption. The effort of the committee between 1999 to 2007 definitely yielded result as cocoa production moved to target level with local consumption in the home school feeding program which was cut short due to policy summersaults after the exit of President Obasanjo, said Dr. Iyama.

 Since the departure of president Obasanjo since 2007, all the positive impact the regime garnered for the produce had all fizzled away, reason being no policies implementation continuity as annual production dropped to below 250,000 according to Mr. Oluwadupe Afolabi, a cocoa farmer in Ekiti State who added that cocoa day celebration glamour alone brings about increase in the local consumption of the cash crop, and this cannot be easily forgotten in a jiffy.  

Daramola said the cocoa rebirth launched in 2002 by president Obasanjo  to resuscitate the produce to its glory with an approval of N250 million for inputs procurement for commercial production towards more economic earning locally and internationally as consumption of the derivatives are being projected to drive production, added he hopes the new 10 years action plan for the produce from 2022-2032 had policy implementation process for mass consumption that would not be jettisoned at the mid way.

Late Robo Adhuze, the chief operating officer, Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative had once said that the major input for the production of chocolate was cocoa, but unfortunately bemoaned our low consumption percentage that he put at just 5% which is far below being able to make us competitive in the global market.

The immediate past president of Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mr. Siyina Rima opined that the 2022-2032, 10 years action plan initiated by the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (FMITI), CAN, African Export Import Bank ( AfreximBank) should be well implemented to ensure high consumption drive of the produce with productivity sustainability, stated he has no doubt about the consumption increase if the implementation process was not altered.

Dr. Tunde Arosanyin, an international renowned scholar, researcher, consultant and presently the National Coordinator, Zero Hunger Nigeria Project, initiated by United Nation (UN) stressed the need to embark on local consumption based on its health implications for the young and adults as the beans are very reach in protein content with about 20%, carbohydrate- 40% and fat at 40%.

Arosanyin added that part of the strategy to promote local consumption is to include cocoa drink in the school feeding program at both the primary and secondary schools saying that the children would be able to tap into the theobromine properties of the produce for brain development, while the anti ageing element of it will be very handy for the elders as the traces of lactose and galactose of the produce are energy boosters for both the male and female. 

The Zero Hunger, Nigeria Coordinator mentioned derivatives products from the produce as cocoa powder, chocolate, cocoa wine, cocoa juice, cream, soap and organic fertilizer stressed that inability of Nigeria government to focus on consumption drive has been a great bane of the crop hoping that the narrative may soon change in the present dispensation.

He said ‘’Presently, Cote D’Ivoire accounts for the highest world supply of cocoa beans standing at 31%, closely followed by Ghana, each of the two countries looked inward in the year 2002 when our team visited the two countries under the National Cocoa Development Committee on an international exchange information. One thing that our team took away was the development of local market in those countries’’ just as he added that the unsustainability of the cocoa regeneration during the time of President Olusegun Obasanjo which focus on local consumption be brought back.

Arosanyin empathised on what Nigeria is losing by not processing and adding value to the produce saying in 2021 the country lost 100% in terms of money and job opportunities to only selling cocoa beans at $779 million when the actual market worth with value addition stood $1.5billion. The major players of our cocoa beans for the year were Netherlands-$316 million, Malaysia -$ 143 million, Indonesia-$69.1 Million, USA-$53.6 billion and Canada-$38.1 million. He therefore strongly advocated for more local consumption so as to enhance its competitiveness in the global market.

Mrs. Adeyemi Adewunmi of Ile Oluji cocoa processing company, Ondo state expressed impressive patronage on their product that is mainly derived from the crop beans saying the medicinal potentials of the produce is really driving the market demand as she advised that farmers should be supported with right inputs in order to get quality clean beans like is found in Ghana, adding that the uncontrollable hike in price was a very big challenge Government must looked into in order to encourage private companies.

A document made available to us by the FMITI showed that cocoa can help to regulate appetite by influencing hormones related to hunger thereby aiding in the weight management of people. It was further stated that food chefs and culinary experts should be ready to join hands in the promotion of cocoa consumption in our traditional Nigerian dishes as the produce’ powder can be made to make stew with other ingredients that would make it delicious.

It was also noted that cocoa farms are ageing with other ailing challenges like poor infrastructure and global market uncertainty with unsteady prices that must be immediately tackled for effective productivity that will enhance consumption locally.