Tourists storm Osun for Cocoa festival

Tourists from different parts of the world who are partaking in the first cocoa festival in Africa have converged on the Eti-Oni, the ancient town in Osun State that pioneered the production of cocoa in Nigeria over 120 years ago. The maiden edition of the cocoa festival which began on Sunday November 27 would come […]

Tourists from different parts of the world who are partaking in the first cocoa festival in Africa have converged on the Eti-Oni, the ancient town in Osun State that pioneered the production of cocoa in Nigeria over 120 years ago.

The maiden edition of the cocoa festival which began on Sunday November 27 would come to a climax with a grand finale on Saturday, December 3rd.

The cocoa festival is the first of its kind in Africa and it was set up to motivate cocoa farmers to step up their production.

The event was designed to train the cocoa farmers and sensitize the on the modern technology in cocoa farming so that they would be producing high quality cocoa and make maximum profit.

To achieve this objective, a Farmer Field School was organised at Eti-Oni in which experts from Osun State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security were taken to the cocoa farms to train the cocoa farmers on the best way to cultivate, harvest and market their cocoa.

The State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola said his administration was committed to ensure welfare of farmer by providing social amenities in the rural areas across the state, saying that the cocoa festival would assist in charting a new course for cocoa production.

Aregbesola who was represented by the Director General of the Office of Economic Development, (OEDP), Dr Charles Akiinola commended the

traditional ruler of Eti-Oni, the Oloni of Eti-Oni, Oba Dokun Thompson for initiating the cocoa festival.

The governor said the festival has provided a veritable platform to bring stakeholders in the cocoa business together to share ideas on cocoa production and other aspects of agribusiness as a way out of the current economic recession.