·Says we can regain top spot
In this interview, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BoT, Federation of AgriculturalCommodities Association of Nigeria, FACAN, and former National President of CocoaAssociation of Nigeria, CAN, Dr Victor Iyama, bares his mind on the slow pace of the cocoa industry, saying Nigeria can emerge a global leader of cocoa production if properly positioned.
Cocoa Value Chain
As for cash crops, it is even easier if we do the needful. Like in cocoa, for example, apart from planting more, the old moribund farms can be grafted or replaced because if the old moribund farms are replaced, our cocoa can get up to 800,000 metric tonnes but there are new varieties now that take us two and a half years, and if we concentrate on that, we provide the enabling environment, our farms will not just be in the bush, there should be facilities in farm settlements. If there are such facilities with cottage homes, one bedroom or two bedrooms with internet amenities, hospitals, why would our youths be roaming the streets of Lagos? All those things have been structured for them but the question is, are they following them? At times they will say the youths are not ready to work, I beg to disagree. They are ready to work but at least in an enabling environment. I always tell them, please stop blaming the youths. There are thousands of them that are ready to embrace farming and they have come for training.
Potential of Cocoa Producing Belts
Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire are ahead, no doubt, because cocoa is like what oil is to Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. That is their oil. Moreover, we are not growing the way we should be, but the truth is this, Nigerian farmers earn far more than any farmers in the world because for Nigerian farmers, at least this season, it was fantastic, even the whole season. Nigerian farmers were selling cocoa for N10.5 million per tonne while the highest a Ghanaian farmer can get is N2.5 million. See the difference because we are operating a free market while Ghana is operating a cocoa board. That is number one. Currently, Ondo is the highest cocoa producing state in Nigeria followed by Cross River and, maybe in the next three years Cross River might overtake Ondo. We also have Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, Edo, Oyo, Delta, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Kwara, Kogi, Taraba, Adamawa, and Niger states, which means as a country we have 28 states that can grow cocoa in commercial quantity.
Death of Chocolate Scheme
We went to Brazil to understudy the cocoa value chain in that country, and we realized that Brazil was giving chocolate and cocoa drinks to primary school children for 12 years free of charge, and that was how they became net consumers, which we started here, but when former President Olusegun Obasanjo left they scattered it. We had it for one year, and the whole thing died but we can resurrect it.
Cocoa Board
When they were talking about Cocoa Board, I told them never to dare it. Oh, they built Cocoa House. Do you know how many Cocoa Houses farmers have built by themselves? Why was Cocoa Board scrapped in the first instance? It was scrapped because officials were feeding fat, buying houses, expensive cars, while farmers were rotting away. It was General Ibrahim Babangida who scrapped it in 1986 when there was so much fighting. Farmers cut off all the coffee plants and cocoa trees, and then our production nosedived to about 87,000 metric tonnes. Before, we used to be number one. We were ahead of Ghana.
Ghana was number two, later Ghana became number one, and we number two and Côte d'Ivoire number four, but, today, Côte d'Ivoire is doing 2 million metric tonnes, they are number one. Ghana, last year, was about 950,000 metric tonnes, they are number two. We are number five in the world, we are number four in Africa because now, Cameroon that used to be behind us is now even in our front. If you want to bring back Cocoa Board, it will only be strictly responsible for the provision of farm inputs and regulations. They must never be involved in buying and selling. Even, it is the same thing, go to Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, all those things are not necessary. That is why Cocoa Association was formed and restructuring and encouraging them, and they started going back and we are now at over 320,000 metric tonnes.
Production Target
Our target is to go to over 500,000 metric tonnes because we have to be careful in production. When we produce too much cocoa, the price nosedives that is what has happened. This year, cocoa went up as much as $10,000 per tonne. It has not happened in the past 50 years. The main factor is the fact that supply dropped drastically because Cote d'Ivoire's production suddenly reduced by almost 500,000 metric tonnes. Ghana's production also reduced by about 200,000 metric tonnes. My argument has always been that cocoa price should not be less than $6,000, $7,000 instead of $1,800, $1,500, and my argument is based on the fact that in those old days, when cocoa was even going for $5,000, $4,000, $6,000, a bar of chocolate was $0.05 but the same bar of chocolate today is $1.50, $2.00. So, what has happened? If we go by that, cocoa should even be $15,000, $20,000 per metric tonne. In Africa, we produce about 80 per cent of the world's needs, but West Africa produces about 75 per cent. So, ideally, we should be the one dictating the price, but we can't. To dictate the price is simply to consume what we are producing. That is why we need to process cocoa to chocolate because that is where the money is. That brings about $140 billion to $150 billion into an economy; less than 15 per cent goes to cocoa beans, cocoa butter, cocoa cake, and all that. The rest goes to the final product, which is chocolate. So, do we consume chocolate? The answer is yet to come.
Cocoa Processing
From the day you harvest the pod and the day you get it to be well fermented cocoa beans takes about 21 days. When you finish processing the cocoa bean, you can throw it into your mouth and eat it because one, when you break the pod you can start fermentation after seven days. In those days our elders used to use plantain leaves to cover the cocoa bean for fermenting and all that. Now we use a fermentation box and turn it instead of just laying it on the floor. Then you start drying it and they prefer sun drying and not machine drying. However, it is challenging during rainy season, and depending on the weather, at times it takes 12-14 days, if the weather is good it takes seven days, and if care is not taken, it will get mould, and you start sorting and bagging.
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Demands
They (government) should help us with solar panel dryers on a raised platform so that we when rain is coming we just cover it straight. We can also carry AK47 if government allows us and see if we will not face attackers or enemies, and that will go a long way to scare them away.
Message to Government
My own message is let them take care of the security of the farms. Without security, forget all these things we are talking about. Of course, when they take care of security and make it number one, they should also take care of irrigation, provide tractors on loan or hire purchase.
