They spoke at a special event to mark farmers’ day celebration in Ondo State, which had other cocoa farmers from the South-West States and the South-South in attendance.
Ayodeji Moradeyo reports that experts in cocoa production want the Nigerian Government to provide more lands for farmers to reactivate the agriculture extension programme in the country.
They spoke at a special event to mark farmers’ day celebration in Ondo State, which had other cocoa farmers from the South-West States and the South-South in attendance.
Cocoa farming in Nigeria is predominantly carried out by small-scale farmers, with outdated skills and limited access to finance and modern
technology.
Farmers are faced with other challenges like poor road networks and access to loans. These issues and many others came to the fore at this farmer’s day programme, organised by Olakoko for cocoa farmers in Ondo, Osun, Ogun and Edo states.
Experts say the challenges facing the country’s cocoa sector are enormous, hence the need to devise policies to boost production.
They also want the quality of cocoa beans being exported from the country to meet international standard.
Some cocoa farmers advocate more government support in form of provision of subsidies, aids, loans and funds.
Nigeria, with an annual production capacity of 367,000 tonnes, is currently the world’s fourth largest producer of cocoa, after Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Ghana.
