Cocoa farmers urge Tinubu to address funding gaps in industry

The Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) has expressed concerns over inadequate funding in the cocoa industry and appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for support to safeguard and further boost the sector. In an open letter to Tinubu on Monday, Adeola Adegoke, Director General of the Cocoa Roundtable Initiative and National President of CFAN, […]

The Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) has expressed concerns over inadequate funding in the cocoa industry and appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for support to safeguard and further boost the sector.

In an open letter to Tinubu on Monday, Adeola Adegoke, Director General of the Cocoa Roundtable Initiative and National President of CFAN, emphasised the need for prioritising investment in the cocoa sector to maintain its current growth trajectory.

“One of Mr President’s campaign promises was to establish boards for essential agricultural commodities-not for buying, but for developing and regulating such sectors,” Adegoke stated, urging that cocoa be given priority as a significant foreign exchange provider and revenue source for Nigeria.

Adegoke said while the National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) was established two years ago to oversee cocoa industry regulations, its efforts have been hindered by a lack of funding, limiting its role in quality control, contract arbitration, child labour monitoring and investor protection.

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He added that despite economic challenges, the Cocoa Roundtable Initiative sees Tinubu’s reforms not as “T-Pain” but as “T-Gain” and “T-Sustainability.”

He said CFAN’s mission was to enhance Nigeria’s cocoa economy and improve the livelihoods of farmers, calling on Tinubu to strengthen the NCMC by transforming it into a board and securing necessary legal support through the National Assembly.

The letter also urged the president to fund the National Task Force on the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to safeguard $1 billion in industry investments and to provide subsidies for farming inputs, which would help boost productivity and increase both farmers’ incomes and government revenue by 2025.

CFAN highlighted the sector’s impressive growth, noting that cocoa exports rose by 304% in Q1 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, reaching N438.7 billion and accounting for 42.4% of Nigeria’s agricultural exports.