C’River Inaugurates Cocoa Scheme

The Cross River  State Government has inaugurated Cocoa Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) as part of the State Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr James Aniyom, inaugurated the GES in Ikom, Cross River on Friday.

Aniyom said that the scheme was one of the critical components of Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

He said that cocoa was one of the crops in which the state had comparative advantage, adding that the GES roll-out was aimed at increasing cocoa output.

“Our target is to be the largest producer of cocoa, not only in Nigeria, but the World at large,‘’ he said.

Aniyom said that the GES was designed to provide affordable agricultural inputs, including fertilisers, chemicals and hybrid seedlings to farmers at subsidised rates.

He said that part of the component of the scheme was to employ the use of agro-dealers who would deal directly with the farmers.

“Part of government’s objective is to stop our cocoa farmers from patronising adulterated chemical dealers in the state.’’

He advised farmers not to use adulterated chemicals because it was capable of reducing the annual yields and the life span of cocoa.

The commissioner called on stakeholders in cocoa production to respect government’s policy on value addition.

“I urge all the Local Buyers Association, farmers, merchants and exporters to respect government’s policy on value addition in the cocoa industry in the state.

“Investors should take advantage of the investment incentives provided by the government to set up facilities for processing cocoa.’’

Earlier, the Chairman, cocoa monitoring team in the state, Mr Paul Ojong, said the team partner with NAFDAC, Cocoa Research Institution of Nigeria and farmers, to sustain and promote sustainable cocoa production.

Ojong said the team also procured pesticides for farmers at a subsidised rate of 50 per cent while the cocoa producing local government councils subsidised agro-chemicals by 20 per cent.

He said that part of the mandate of the monitoring team was to improve cocoa production and quality of beans, including price uniformity, equitable distribution of inputs and effective application.

He stressed the need for farmers to be educated on how best to use inputs for maximum yield.