Nigeria could be adding several thousand more tonnes of cocoa beans to its current output levels for the commodity, as some major development finance institutions are partnering to support growth in the country’s cocoa sector. The efforts of these banks could help propel Nigeria back to the top of the list of Cocoa producing nations. The Africa Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank, Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank and the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) will be working together with the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to design and implement strategies aimed at improving Nigeria’s cocoa production capacity.
Bashir Wali, the Acting Managing Director of NEXIM, revealed details of plans being made by the government to revitalize the cocoa industry, while receiving representatives of the Afrexim and Bank of Agriculture. The NEXIM executive said that cocoa farmers in Nigeria could access a ₦500 billion Export Stimulus Fund made available by the bank to help them raise production output levels for their produce and export them. Information was also given about a five-year plan to transform the cocoa industry, which the government had agreed upon with other players in the sector.
The latest attempts to give cocoa production in Nigeria a lift comes as global demand for chocolates, the key product made from the cocoa beans, is rising. This growth in demand has been spurred by an expanding middle class in the so-called emerging economies, with consumers in those countries increasingly adopting western diets as a sign of their growing affluence and connection with the modern, globalized world. Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, who was minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Jonathan Administration, had suggested in 2014 that Nigeria’s annual output for cocoa could reach about 1 million tonnes by the year 2020. However, reports indicate that a year after the positive statements were made by the minister, annual output fell from 248,000 tonnes that year, to 235,000 in 2015. It is perhaps in the bid to reverse this downward movement and take advantage of the expanding market for cocoa that the government and development institutions allied to it have come up with its latest interventions and policies.