Nigeria is set to overtake Ivory Coast and Ghana in developing a sustainable cocoa supply chain.
This is coming through the collaborative efforts of stakeholders and the US government, as well as the resuscitation of commodity boards by Africa’s biggest economy.
Owing to this, the US Traceability and Resilience in Agriculture and Cocoa Ecosystems of Nigeria (TRACE) project implemented by Lutheran World Relief has approved a $22 million five-year development program.
The five-year program covers; traceability, climate-smart practices, inputs support to smallholder farmers, capacity building along the value chain and exports in collaboration with the Nigerian cocoa stakeholders.
Adeola Adegoke, national president, of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria said the implementation of the TRACE project will help the country overtake the likes of Ivory Coast and Ghana on growing cocoa sustainably.
He however called on the European Union to begin seeing Nigeria as a cocoa-origin country taking the bull by the horn to address the challenges of cocoa sustainability as the TRACE project kick-starts with the government’s readiness to resuscitate the Nigeria Cocoa Board.
Nigeria is presently fourth in cocoa production behind Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia with about 2.2 million MTS, 800,000 MTS and 739,483 MTS respectively, while Nigeria with 340,000 MTS and currently targeting 500,000 MTS by the year 2024.
