A COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE NATIONAL COCOA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (NCMC),NIGERIA PREPAREDNESS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH EUROPEAN UNION DEFEROSTATION REGULATION (EUDR)

 

As part of its pioneering efforts to put in place a National framework for EUDR preparedness and compliance, the National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on 19th April, 2024 conducted a hybrid technical roundtable discussion that brought together over 100 cocoa stakeholders and value chain actors drawn from the public, private and the development community.

 

The roundtable, which is an integral part of NCMC and IFC partnership to unlocking the potentials in Nigerian Cocoa Ecosystem recommended the following for serious and urgent attention for compliance with the EUDR due diligence pillars on traceability, deforestation free and legality of products.

 

• The urgency of Nigeria’s EUDR Preparedness assessment check is of priority and is highly recommended as soon as possible. In this regard, the EU representative gave a commitment to support Nigeria for an EUDR Preparedness’ Assessment check as done for Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana and Cameroon if Nigeria lobbies for it. Accordingly, it was roundly endorsed that the Federal Government of Nigeria needs to engage urgently in this regard with the EU.

 

• For the traceability compliance pillar, there is also the urgent need to put in place a Central National Cocoa database that will comprise amongst other indices, the registration of all farms, farmers, processors, exporters, intermediation services providers and buying agents and the relevant MDAs across the 22 cocoa producing States. There is no National Database of the current state of play for Traceability/Certification, Forest maps, Legality/Due diligence.

 

• The whole essence of the EUDR will be predicated on an updated National Forest Map for the cocoa producing states in particular to indicate deforestation- free cocoa and cocoa products. Nigeria needs updated forest map with geo-location of tree crops and other land matters for Traceability. Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) has capabilities for Forests, Tree Cover map, Forest Cover, Forest Loss and Tree Loss for Nigeria. The Institute is however hampered by lack of adequate funding even for validating existing Forest data, forest and crop maps.

 

• Information came out that there is on ground Traceability and Certification to a certain extent but that the data are with the export and processing companies for their own supply chain needs and certification protocols. Forest Alliance informed the meeting that there is 60% mapping of all Cocoa small scale holders in all Cocoa producing areas outside protected forests. Barry Callebaut, claim they map, train and capacitate all their farmers and are thus good on sustainability. It was thus recommended that the Private sector Operators with Traceability/Certification, Deforestation-Free and Legality Compliance records be encouraged to come together to pool such records for Nigeria. NCMC is to facilitate this.

 

• It was identified that Public Officers need urgent capacity building on a harmonized cocoa-specific protocol particularly for Officers at Forestry Research Institute (FRIN), FMAFS, Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), the various Produce Inspection Officers at Federal Produce Inspection Service (FPIS), State Produce Inspection Service (SPIS), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and others. This will be to capacitate them to render support services to the various Stakeholders and reduce bottlenecks that hinder investments. In this regard, it was also recommended that Inter Ministry and Inter Agency cooperation should be improved for information sharing and other matters.

 

• There is also a need for Regulatory reforms and an improved Legislative framework for Cocoa and Land matters. The need for a new or a review of Legislative framework for land matters was recommended as there were challenges with the current Land use Act that vests all lands in the hands of the State Governments which includes Forests issues.

 

As a fallout to the roundtable, The European Union (EU) notified the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food security (FMAFS), on the new rules regarding products that are drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss. EU being one of Nigeria’s major trading partners also informed Nigeria that non-compliance to EUDR regulation could impact negatively on EU-Nigerian trade. The FMAFS responded to the letter from EU by inviting them to conduct EUDR preparedness assessment check like what was done for Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon. Extension for EUDR compliance deadline and also carbon credit consideration was also requested.

 

The National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) was the outcome of interactive meeting between the Nigerian delegation and Ghana Cocoa Board held in Accra, Ghana on 19th May 2022. The Honorable Minister of Agriculture approved the establishment of the National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC), a national coordinating body expected to guarantee quality, traceability, transparency, and sustainability in Cocoa Value Chain on 2nd August 2022 for the purpose of developing a framework for the regulation and monitoring of Cocoa sector’s activities. At their inaugural meeting the NCMC came up with draft Bill for the establishment of the National Cocoa Board. The board when fully functional will operate in the following ways:

 

• To develop a framework for the regulation and monitoring of the activities of the Cocoa sector to make the industry more transparent; to develop a strategic plan towards the establishment of a Nigerian Cocoa Board.

• The NCMC, as an important regulatory body in the Nigerian Cocoa sector shall upscale their activities to all cocoa producing states.

• The NCMC shall organize and conduct a national conference for Commissioners of Agriculture from 36 states and FCT to sensitize them on the importance of cocoa and efforts of the Federal Government towards increased production.

• The NCMC shall develop Local, State and Federal Government strategic implementation plan of the National Cocoa Management Committee; and

• The NCMC shall establish data bank for all Multinational Companies and Exporters of Cocoa Beans from Nigerian Ports.

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The National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) held its first meeting in Abuja on 3rd November 2022 and two other meetings in Abuja and Akure, Ondo State respectively, the meeting discussed issues on how to develop a framework for the coordination, regulations, and monitoring of Cocoa activities in the Country and EU Child Labour/EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for implementation and compliance.  Major achievements and efforts to date include: -

 

• The NCMC has been able to bring together relevant stakeholders (World Cocoa Foundation, International Financial Corporation- World Bank Group, International Cocoa Organization, European Union etc.) in the Country and world at large towards chatting a new direction for the Nigerian cocoa sector.

• The NCMC has held four (4) meetings since inception, creating awareness among the stakeholders on the EUDR due diligence protocol.

• The NCMC has enabled a proper coordination within the Cocoa industry which was lacking due to non-regulation of the Cocoa sector in Nigeria, unlike Ghana with full regulation while Cote d’Ivoire has partial regulation.

• The NCMC has enabled major players in the Cocoa sector to have a forum through which ideas are discussed for the growth of the sector.

• NCMC during its courtesy visit to Honourable Minister of Agriculture (HMA) recently successfully secured the buy-in of the HMA to support its activities.

• NCMC and Lutheran World Relief (LWR) are collaborating on several areas through her Traceability and Resilience in Agriculture (TRACE) project in Nigeria to ensure Traceability/Certification, Forest maps, Legality/Due diligence.

 

At the 4th meeting of the NCMC, held on the 6th of June 2024 at Exclusive serene hotel, Abuja, the NCMC resolved to pursue various funding options available to the committee; meeting the EUDR target on deforestation, establishment of  a National traceability system in Nigeria; strengthening of NCMC to metamorphose into National Cocoa Board as obtained in Ghana Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon and partial regulation of the Cocoa Industry in Nigeria to guarantee quality, transparency, traceability, and sustainability. At this meeting, the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) also engaged the NCMC on possible areas of collaboration and the need for partnership options aimed at Sustainable cocoa ecosystems especially through the replication of the Cocoa Forest Initiatives, an initiative of the Foundation currently implemented in, Cameroon, Cote d’ Ivoire and Ghana. The NCMC also resolved to reach out and bring on-board all relevant government agencies that are already working on EUDR compliance in order to have a unified national response to comply with the regulation.

Signed 

Dr Patrick Adebola

For:Chairman NCMC

Mr Ajayi Olutobaba 

For: Secretary NCMC