Cocoa farmers and exporters in the country have earned N644 billion from the export of cocoa beans in the first half of 2024 as harvest commences in producing states across the country, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Nigeria’s cocoa export surged 298 percent in the first six months of the year from N161.8 billion in the first half of 2023 to N644 billion in the same period of 2024.
Farmers attributed the surge to the cost of cocoa – key ingredient for making chocolate – which has tripled since the start of the year, with quoted prices on the Internal Cocoa Organisation’s website reaching a new historic high of $8,246 per tonne on November 27.
The surge is owing to bad weather that battered harvest in top West African growers – Ivory Coast and Ghana and Nigerian farmers benefited from it on the back of the continued depreciation of the naira, which fell to an all-time low of N1,675 per dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market on Monday, data from FMDQ showed.
“Nigerian farmers have benefited from the price surge and we are likely going to see export proceeds from cocoa exceed N1 trillion in the full year of 2024,” Sayina Rima told BusinessDay from his Ikom Farm in the South-South region.
“If the price rally continues and weather conditions are favorable, we are going to see the improved harvest in the years ahead,” Rima said. Rima noted that the price surge is causing more young people to rush into growing cocoa, saying it will help address the issues of aging farmers and trees that have reduced productivity in recent years.
“In Ikom, the price surge is causing more youths to rush into cocoa production.” “With all this momentum, our production will increase but we need the government to stop paying lip service to cocoa.”
He urged the government to fully support the production of cocoa as it remains the country’s main export cash crop, noting that the current price rally provides an incentive for the government to revamp the industry.
Mufutau Abolarinwa, national president of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria, said cocoa farmers and exporters are benefitting from the record surge in global prices.
“As we speak, the farm-gate price is N12.5 million,” he said. “We will see a marginal increase in this maincrop season and we expect an output boost next year if weather conditions are favorable,” he noted.
Nigeria is currently the world’s fourth largest producer of cocoa, with 280,000 metric tonnes in the 2022–2023 season, according to the International Cocoa Organisation’s latest data on global production and the third largest exporter, after Ivory Coast and Ghana.
The country has two cocoa harvest seasons: the smaller mid-crop (April to June) and the main crop (October to December). The main crop, which accounts for about 70 percent of Nigeria’s cocoa output, has commenced since October and farmers are optimistic of a marginal increase in production when compared to last year’s season.
“If we are truly serious about boosting our non-oil FX proceeds the government must support cocoa farmers now,” said Lawrence Afere, founder and CEO of Springboard Farmers’ Co-operative of Nigeria.
Despite the potential of Nigeria’s cocoa industry to change the fortunes of the Nigerian economy, with attendant exponential gains by way of earnings, employment, and other spin-offs, the country is yet to improve production fully.
Cocoa, which remains one of the fastest-selling and most desirable agricultural commodities in the international market due to the rapid growth and expansion of chocolate confectioneries and other products, is still neglected by the government.
Over the years, the government has mouthed support for cocoa farming and processing, claiming it is serious about making the industry one of the largest foreign exchange-earners.
However various government policies have not yet made it beyond the talking stage. “With the current expansions by individual farmers, we are going to see an output boost in three years from now,” Afere said.
