September 9, 2014

When commodity prices crashed in the 1980’s and the country’s oil industry took investments away from the agricultural sector, Nigerians migrated to the cities in search of other work.  But Nigeria’s economy lost diversity from focusing too intently upon oil which didn’t employ many of its people. These developments prompted the Nigerian government to re-examine its cocoa industry as prices continue to rise.  The government aims to achieve an annual production of 1 million tons – making it competitive with Ghana, the world’s second biggest cocoa producer and approaching the 1.8 million tons per year that is expected from Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer.  By next year Nigeria is projecting to double its 2012 production to produce 500,000 tons of cocoa.  Currently the country is only growing cocoa on less than a quarter of the 3 million hectares of land suitable for production and the government is supplying trees, plant pods, disease-resistant seeds, fertilizer, and agricultural chemicals at subsidized rates and is providing training on modern agricultural practices.  With the government support, trees are surviving at much higher rates and are flowering between 18 and 24 months instead of between three to five years.  To read further about Nigeria’s quickly growing cocoa sector and the developing cocoa processing industry in the country:

Read the article

To receive relevant news stories with summaries provided by GAI Research & Insight, subscribe to Global AgDevelopments, our free weekly enhanced eNews service