Nigeria Moves to Boost Cocoa Sector

Cocoa House in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria, was built with the earnings from exports of cocoa beans and at 26 storeys was once the country’s tallest building.

Profits from sales of the commodity–prized around the world as the basic ingredient for chocolate–used to be ploughed into providing free education and health services, rural development and other infrastructure projects, AFP reported.

But today, like the sector from which it takes its name, Cocoa House is a shadow of its former self: the paint is faded, the roof is failing and offices lie empty.

“Cocoa House used to be the glory of the west,” said Pa Olusina Adebiyi, referring to Nigeria’s former Western Region, which was reorganized into smaller, separate states from 1967. “If you go there now, it’s an eyesore with all sorts of characters loitering in the area,” the 85-year-old former clerk in the building told AFP.

Agriculture was once the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy and provided jobs for more than 70% of the population until the discovery of oil.

President Muhammadu Buhari and his government are now trying to revive agriculture to diversify the oil-dependent economy that has been battered by the fall in global crude prices.

One sector seen as ripe for development is cocoa and the Cocoa Association of Nigeria has outlined a 10-year action plan to boost production.

“We have made laudable recommendations that can change the cocoa story in Nigeria,” said CAN president Sayina Riman. “We hope those recommendations will be faithfully implemented in the interests of the industry.”

Riman pointed out that Nigeria’s oil industry, which accounts for some 70% of government revenue and 90% of foreign earnings, was initially developed using cocoa money. As oil’s stock rose, cocoa’s declined and since the 1970s, it has been the West African giant’s “most neglected commodity”, he added.

Production in 2016 was 237,000 tons, according to data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Ivory Coast produced 1.47 million tons and Ghana 859,000 tons.

Experts and scientists say Nigeria can boost production with improved seedlings, fertilizers, new farming methods, pesticides and better coordination among research bodies.