Nigeria, the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer, plans to almost double production in four years by providing farmers with access to new seeds, fertilizer and finance, Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesida has said.
Production will increase to 700,000 metric tons by 2015 from about 380,000 tons, Adesida said in an interview with Bloomber in Abuja. Cocoa is Nigeria’s second-biggest foreign-exchange earner after oil.
According to him, Nigeria will, “make sure that farmers get access to fertilizer and other agrochemicals.”
Nigeria’s cocoa trees produce an average 450 kilograms (992 pounds) a hectare (2.47 acres), according to Chris Okafor, a researcher at the Ibadan-based International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture. Newer varieties can produce up to 2,000 kilograms a hectare, he said. Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia are the largest producers according to the International Cocoa Organization.
Exportation of cocoa products from Nigeria rose 47 percent to $822.8m in 2010, Olakunle Akingbola, business development manager of Cobalt International Services, an inspection company, said on June 2. Cocoa prices in London have more than doubled since the end of 2006.
A Cocoa Market and Trade Development Corporation, run by private companies, will be set up, Adesida said.
“We expect that within the next three months, we will have a new blueprint for cocoa revitalization for Nigeria,” he added.?