As Nigeria’s Cocoa production and export began to increase in 2017, the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) carried out a value chain study of the sector between January and April 2018. The findings from the study will be validated with stakeholders including farmers, intermediate and final processors, aggregators, exporters, Business Membership Organizations (BMOs), financial institutions, government agencies, input companies and regulatory organizations in Akure, Ondo State, on May 17, 2018.
2017 saw an increase in the quantity of cocoa exported from Nigeria, rising from about 250,000 tonnes exported in 2016 to more than 300,000 tonnes in 2017. The increase was triggered by the devaluation of the Naira in 2016 by the Nigerian government in a bid to wade off recession. While the devaluation of the Naira and subsequent increase in tariffs or outright ban of certain imported goods led to a 30% loss in the value of Nigeria’s currency in comparison to the United States of America’s Dollar, products like cocoa enjoyed increased demand and production because of its viability as an export product.
PIND is market-driven. This means that the Foundation finds and improves markets that offer jobs and income opportunities for the poor majority. To enable itself and other key stakeholders take advantage of the increased market opportunities in the sector, PIND initiated the Cocoa Value Chain study to diagnose the cocoa sector, with a view to understanding the structure of the industry in the Niger Delta, identify key value chains and conduct cocoa stakeholders mapping. It also identified investment opportunities in the industry, the competitiveness of the region’s cocoa economy and the gaps and areas in need of intervention for sustainability and effective linkage with the global cocoa value chain.
According to the Market Development Projects Manager for PIND, James Elekwachi who led the value chain study ‘’the cocoa sector has the growth potential and the opportunity to increase income and employment for millions of people, especially the unskilled and semi-skilled in the region. As demonstrated in other economies with proper focus on production of commodities of large scale commercial values, improvement in the production of cocoa can effectively mitigate the poverty level in Nigeria and especially in the Niger Delta region since seven of the fourteen producing States are in the Niger Delta Region’’.
Following the validation of the findings and finalization of the study report, the findings from the cocoa value chain study will be disseminated to a wide range of stakeholders in the third quarter of 2018 to inform and influence interventions and policies aimed at enhancing the market opportunities in the sector to make it more lucrative for the market actors in the Niger Delta region and in Nigeria
The Foundation is already implementing interventions in the aquaculture, cassava and palm oil sectors.
