Cocoa: FG gives farmers One Million Climate Smart Seedlings

 

The Federal Government (FG) has started the distribution of one million improved hybrid cocoa seedlings to farmers across the fourteen states of the Federation.

This was contained in a press statement made available yesterday by the head of the ministry' s department, information, Mr. Ezeaja Ikemefuna after the distribution launch held at Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, CRIN, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

 The statement quoted the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari saying that the initiative is a flagship under the national cocoa development plan and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu towards transforming the agricultural sector into a more economically viable industry.

The Minister noted in the statement that Nigeria has all the fundamentals to become one of the world's leading cocoa producing nations, citing suitable ecological conditions, experienced farmers, strong research institutions, and a growing private sector.   

The statement added cocoa low production to ageing plantations, declining productivity, inadequate investment, limited access to improved planting materials, climate-related challenges, and weak value addition.

Sen. Kyari in the press release pointed the need for farmers to get adequate extension services that would boost yield with expansion of processing raw cocoa into a processed product for export.

In the statement, Mr. Alaba Adegoke, a cocoa farmer pledged that the farmers would make judicious use of the improved seedlings to increase production and livelihoods.