Lack of political will crippling cocoa industry – COFAAN President

President of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria and Chief Executive Officer of Farmers Agro Investment Ltd, Adeola Adegoke, speaks to ARINZE NWAFOR about how Nigeria needs political will in leadership to secure the future of the cocoa industry and improve farmers’ welfare

How should the National Cocoa Management Board, okayed by the Presidency but awaiting Senate approval, function successfully?

The model of not being involved in sales but in regulations will make it successful.

I’m a cocoa farmer and a leader among cocoa farmers here in Nigeria and across Africa. I can always point out that there are gaps in the Nigerian industry. These gaps can only be addressed if we have a regulatory board that will be involved in resolving some of these issues comprehensively.

For example, in Nigeria, we have a cocoa plant. What are some of those plants? What kind of national agenda do we have about cocoa production across the cocoa-producing states? What kind of varieties? How do we continue to finance research on drought-resistant varieties and make them available for our farmers? Those are some of the most important issues for the board.

In terms of post-harvest processes, how do you scale to ensure Nigeria continues to produce the finest premium cocoa? How do you enforce regulations to prevent unscrupulous people from using pesticides that are banned and are inimical? How do you bring an end to child labour in the cocoa industry?

There is also the leadership issue of who will be in charge of national coordination to tackle deforestation issues and boost investment opportunities for the youths venturing into the cocoa industry. There will be structures of incentivisation and land acquisitions and management that enforce it.

What do you need on the farmers’ end?

A lot of things are involved. How to ensure the market forces do not become an albatross in the future for our cocoa? How do we strengthen our community cooperative societies? How do we develop infrastructure when there are no adequate roads or clinics?

Sometimes you can’t locate schools for the children of these farmers. We have to be deliberate about these things to accomplish them through the NCMB. So, we are looking at a board that will create a conducive atmosphere.

We have issues with contracts; some people run away with other people’s money in this industry. Who enforces contracts? Who protects investors and restores confidence in the industry?

In the last three years, we have stagnated because the fundamentals have not been tackled. We are not coordinated. Nigeria needs an accurate policy framework and a political will to implement the policies. We need a board with this mandate to solve some of these issues. The board does not need to be involved in buying and selling.

We need a board to incentivise youth and organise the sector and tackle sustainability issues. It has to provide leverage, in terms of financial instruments, to enable cocoa farmers and buyers to access finance. The board has a big mandate to change the narratives.

How feasible is the NCMB’s plan to grow 500,000 metric tonnes of cocoa from the current 280,000 to 300,000 range?

It is the simplest thing to do for sustainability. It is amazing how viable most states are in terms of cocoa production. Amazingly, we have about 22 states that can drive cocoa commercially. What Ondo and Cross River States are doing is massive.

It is achievable if we have a national agenda that permeates the state and local governments. Don’t forget that the farmlands we are discussing don’t miss out at the state level.

So that is why at the board level, the states are critical stakeholders at that board level. If we have a national agenda, it will stipulate how many hectares of land we are going for, what yields are expected of them, and what varieties to drive our aspiration. These are things that can push the growth agenda and make it achievable.

It is the duty of this board to create an enabling environment and ease of doing business. Of course, it will be private-sector driven, but the board must enable opportunities.

There are about 22 states in Nigeria where the soil is very rich to ensure that cocoa grows better. When it’s well rehabilitated without even extending the existing land, we will definitely get 500,000 metric tonnes in the next one to two years. Many farms need rehabilitation, restocking, pruning, maintenance and weeding.

We need to substitute the number of aged trees with new ones through grafting. And scientifically, when you do grafting, you might not even need to cut it off. Cocoa farmers find it difficult to cut their cocoa trees, no matter what. Many of the farms in the Southwest are aged. Those aged trees are producing less.

How do you manage them?

So, what we need is grafting; it’s adding another scion, and it germinates and starts with that new stalk. But these things can only be done if the research institute is well-funded.

The equipment and facilities they need must also be there. As long as the research institutes are also battling underfunding, just know that the farms are facing a similar challenge.

We can ask each state to open a new 50,000 or 60,000 hectares. That’s a mandate. But I’m still telling you that the existing ones now, if they are well rehabilitated, and those agronomic practices are carried out, in the next two years we will be at 500,000 metric tonnes.

How did you contribute to the development of the NCMB?

Recall that during the Obafemi Awolowo era, he did a lot of things, from free education to establishing prominent infrastructure, like the first television station in Africa, the first radio station, and the Cocoa House, which were achieved through cocoa proceeds.

Cocoa has been contributing to the government of Nigeria, whether at the federal or state levels. When oil came in the 1970s, we realised that after oil, it was also cocoa. So it has always been pari passu. Then in 1986, the game changed with the abolition of the Cocoa Board, which was entirely throwing the baby out with the bad water.

What do you mean by bad water?

At the time, Nigeria was almost the second-highest producer of cocoa in the world. And Nigeria was also known to be producing the finest cocoa, and so forth.

We had a problem: the abolished cocoa board was doing a lot in terms of productivity, production, incentivisation, input, processing, and other things – practices that made sure that Nigerian cocoa was very distinct from West African.

But the issue of price manipulations that subjected the livelihood of our farmers to make them go into penury was exactly that, shortchanging; the corruption destroyed the cocoa board. So rather than leaving the aspect of that marketing, the whole developmental initiative architecture was scrapped. That’s what I meant by throwing the baby out with the bad water.

Since then, the Nigerian cocoa industry has been on autopilot. This means that the farmers’ lives and welfare have been left on their own. It also means that there are no rules and regulations, nor are there promotions, nor a regulatory framework. There is no way to track the industry from one ministry.

On productions, you are likely to go to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. When it comes to the issue of trading, you are likely to go to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. When you need promotion, you are likely to go to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council; or for funding, you’re likely going to Nexim Bank.

It is an arrangement without much coordination. If you are interested in cocoa, you are likely to be looking for areas where you can actually come in, and it does not help our targets.

We do not have targets, so the farmers continue to be poorer. The farmers have been left with a lot of regulations, even international standards.

That is what I mean when I say that abolishing the cocoa board in 1986 was a great mistake. It was a mistake in the sense that the developmental initiatives of the board should have been preserved, and only certain aspects should have been removed.

So, this was actually the journey. After 1986, Nigeria’s cocoa started coming down. We were having a lot of issues with poor quality and could not compete with Ghana. We cannot compete with the Ivory Coast, which produces about 2.5 million metric tonnes.

Ghana went as far as producing close to 1.1 million metric tonnes over the past two years, but they were down by a 500,000 deficit due to the Cacao Swollen Shoot Virus, which has cut down their production.