Business
Cocoa Farmers Harp On FG’s Support For Climate-smart Agriculture
Cocoa farmers have stated the need for the federal and state governments to improve support to research institutes to increase adoption of climate smart Agricultural practices by farmers.
The farmers said this in a communique issued at the end of its National Cocoa festival organised by the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) and Cocoa Roundtable Initiative (CORI).
The meeting was organised to deliberate on achieving European Union Deforestation (EUDR) compliance and cocoa value chain sustainability through youth entrepreneurship.
The cocoa festival was attended by government agencies, research institutes, farmers in cocoa producing states, processors among others.
The objective of the festival, according to the organisers, was to provide a comprehensive overview of the EUDR and its implications on Nigeria’s cocoa industry, to develop strategies for mapping of land under cocoa cultivation to establish traceability, monitoring deforestation and encourage sustainable practices in cocoa supply chains in order to achieve total due diligence in the Nigerian cocoa sector.
Other objective is to foster partnerships among stakeholders to support deforestation-free cocoa production and protect the ecosystem.
It’s also to clarify roles/responsibilities of National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC), government agencies, cocoa farmers, buyers, processors, exporters and other stakeholders.
The farmers recommended that government should introduce policy on agroforestry practices in cocoa farming and that stakeholders need to develop an effective mechanism for collaboration and feedback collection from the industry players.
The participants called on the government to ensure an enabling environment for private sectors and youth participation in cocoa value chain for sustainability.
Some of the challenges identified at the meeting include, the low local consumption of cocoa products, lack of accurate data on cocoa production and cocoa value chain, knowledge gap about EUDR and other relevant regulations among the farmers and stakeholders.
Also, they noted that farmers are faced with soil degradation, pests and diseases, post harvesting processing infrastructures, access to low digit financing, among others.
The communique also recommended for improved effort on infrastructure development in rural areas where cocoa is grown and that there should be policy interventions to stabilize naira and make it easier for farmers to access foreign exchange for essential imports.
The communiques further stressed that NCMC should collaborate and partner with leading countries in cocoa business, learn their strategies and work closely with them for sustainable growth of the industry.
“Government and Millennium Development Agencies (MDAs) should create platforms and attractive opportunities for youths to learn cocoa value chain businesses such as making of soap, chocolates, and cocoa powder in collaboration with the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria as this is crucial to ensuring sustainability of the industry”, it stated.