Inadequate Funding, High Cost of Farm Inputs Hindering Nigeria’s Cocoa Production
Gilbert Ekugbe
The National President of Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Mr. Adeola Adegoke, has stated that poor funding still remained a major hindering for cocoa production in the country.
Adegoke maintained that many members of CFAN are still struggling to get access to loans to maximise their opportunities in the nation’s cocoa value chain.
He told THISDAY in a telephone interview that financing the cocoa industry has remained a challenge for a very long, explaining that farmers involved in other related commodities have easy access to funds when compared to cocoa farmers.
“Come to look at it, what is the finance level even from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) and not to talk of any other interventions, which sometimes exclude the cocoa sector because of the gestation period,” Adegoke said.
He also stated that the high cost of farm inputs has become a very serious challenge to cocoa farmers in the country.
According to him, the cost of farm input is growing in geometrical dimensions while profit margins of cocoa farmers are diminishing.
He said: “There is need for the federal government to come up with some kind of subsidy for the key areas of support such as pesticides, fertilizer are subsidised.”
He also lamented over the unavailability of lands for cocoa production due to its large requirement for land and gestation period, and called on the federal government to make conscious efforts to make lands available.
In his words: “Availability of lands, especially for our youths is also a major challenge. Crops that are not tree crops get access to farmlands easily, but cocoa because of its requirement for vast lands and gestation period do not get access to availability of lands.
“The government must make conscious efforts to make sure land availability is always guaranteed to encourage the successful generation. Even if we are fifth in world cocoa production, there is a likelihood that we would drop downwards if our youths are not trained or provided incentives to go into cocoa production and part of it is the land, which is the key factor. So, the government must make lands available for youths to venture into cocoa production.
“Another challenge is the area of extension services in the olden days, we had the Cocoa Development Unit (CDU), availability of extension workers available to solve cocoa farmers’ problems on the spot, but presently, hardly will you see any extension service provider as they are longer available.”
