The National President, Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Mr Adegoke Adeola, has said getting new cocoa varieties that bear fruit within 18 months remained a challenge in Nigeria.
Adegoke, who is also the Global President of Cocoa Farmers Alliance Association of Africa, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Ibadan.
He said that the demand for the variety of the new cocoa seedlings was very high when compared to supply.
“There is a new cocoa variety that has 18 months gestation period to fruit and this is a game changer in the sector.
“But its availability is still a challenge and many cocoa farmers are still recycling the old varieties of five to seven years gestation period and this is frustrating,” he said.
Adegoke appealed to the federal government to better fund research institutes to enable them create germplasm, essential for the availability of new cocoa varieties
According to him, there are few nurseries in Nigeria to meet the capacity to supply the new cocoa varieties to farmers in the country thereby making creating a demand gap.
The CFAN national president said that many Nigerian youths were now venturing into cocoa farming because of the increase in price of the commodity in the international market in 2024.
“Agronomy practices is gaining momentum as well as pesticide application.
“If we are able to have much availability of new cocoa seedlings that have 18 months duration, then it will be a big blessing to Nigeria and the country will not be struggling to increase from 200 metric tonnes to 500 metric tonnes,” he said.
Also, Mr Dapo Ladegbaye, Director of Cocoa Farmers Alliance of Africa, United Kingdom branch, said cocoa farmers in Nigeria had in the recent ppast had become disillusioned and frustrated because of the low price of the commodity in the international market.
Ladegbaye said that since government was diversifying the economy from oil and gas to non-oil, there was now hope for Nigeria cocoa farmers
“This is the first time the youth are interested in cocoa farming and see it as a future for Africa and world.
“We need money to take advantage of the booming cocoa sector. The challenge is funding because cocoa is capital intensive,” he said.
He said that Nigeria would soon become a cocoa destination of the world with the support of the federal government to the cocoa industry.
Similarly, Dr Yemisi Lawal, an official of Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Ibadan, said that Nigerians are beginning to see Cocoa as a business rather than mere farming practice,
Lawal said that the price boom of 2024, which saw cocoa price rise from N1,200 to as high as N18,500 per kilogramme had made many Nigerians develop more interest in cocoa cultivation.
She said that the federal government had been funding research projects in the institute while the institute was working assiduously to make new cocoa varieties available to cocoa farmers.