- The federal government plans to improve cocoa production in Nigeria - A committee was established and saddled with the responsibility of achieving this - Nigeria is the seventh largest producer of coca in the world The
President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has announced plans
to become the world largest producer and exporter of cocoa in a move
some have touted as a way of stopping the country’s over-dependence on
oil.
Vanguard reports that this was disclosed by Chief Audu Ogbeh
who is the minister of of agriculture at the launch of the Cocoa
Re-launch Committee led by Dr Olayiwola Oluwole in Abuja.
The
minister said the ambition of the government to reach the top of the
ladder and be the world largest producer was possible with the new
committee. He said: “In-house here we can say is a shame for us to be
number seven on the list of cocoa producers in the world, but we must
reverse it to be at the top and that is why we are here. This is the
time to do it and no other time than to do it now. Nigeria aims to be world largest cocoa producer “Cocoa
can be grown in many parts of the country. We are going to have cocoa
relaunch campaign in March at Ondo State, and we want all cocoa farmers
from cocoa producing states to be present. “We cannot afford to
remain seventh cocoa producing nation. We are going to take over from
Cote D’Ivoire as the largest cocoa producer in the world. “We can
earn huge foreign exchange from cocoa because oil and gas has done
damage to our economy and we have to go back to agriculture to rescue
the economy. “You have to come up with materials that could be used
for cocoa production because cocoa can be grown in many parts of the
country and presently there are 27 states that can grow cocoa. The cocoa
farmers need to be enlightened on what they could do to improve on what
they have been doing in the industry.”
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