BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council has organised a training workshop for cocoa farmers on best agricultural practices and the use of pesticides on cocoa.
According to the organisations, the decision is in line with the efforts of the Federal Government to diversify to non-oil exports, develop better production of cocoa and its export.
No fewer than 100 cocoa farmers attended the one-day training held at CFAN building in Osogbo recently. The beneficiaries of the training were also urged to embrace modern methods of cultivating the crop.
While speaking, one of the resource persons, a plant breeder from CRIN, Festus Olasupo, said the farmers were taught the latest techniques that will enhance the quality of cocoa beans they produce adding that the farmers needed to be taught how they can give the best.
Another trainer, a Director in CRIN, Adedeji Rasheed, noted that the training would enhance better appreciation of cocoa produce both within and outside Nigeria.
“We want cocoa farmers to be aware of the latest technological improvement in order to improve their productivity and guarantee their safety as farmers, their environment and those who consume their produce. We want a situation whereby our products will not be rejected within and outside Nigeria. And that would result in more income for the farmers as well as the country at large.
“Not only would this be a solution to food shortage in the country, it would also be a viable alternative to crude oil.”
Benson Oseni, Trade Promotion Advisor for NEPC, Osogbo, who represented the Executive Director, Ezra Yukusak, said the training would aid the production of standard products by the farmers.
“Cocoa is a competitive product in the international market. For us in Nigeria, it is a strategic product. We have to develop the product itself, so it can compete favourably and healthily with cocoa from other countries”
“It is about a capacity development initiative for our (cocoa) producers. We collaborated with CRIN to boost their capacity to produce standard products as accepted in the international market. The objective is that we expect the capacity of our producers to be boosted so they can start producing to standard.
“Cocoa is a competitive product in the international market. For us in Nigeria, it is a strategic product. We have to develop the product itself, so it can compete favourably and healthily with cocoa from other countries.
“We are not only developing them to produce but to do so en masse. We want more yields. If an average cocoa farmer is producing twenty tons, this capacity programme will make him produce 40 tons. With this, we are having mass production. We will be able to satisfy both local and international demands,” he added.
Osun State Commissioner of Agriculture and Food Security, Adedayo Adewole, said at the event that through the training, the dream of having a zero oil economy would be achieved.
Represented at the training by Adegbite Adeniyi, the Director of Osun State Produce Services, Adewole commended CRIN and NEPC for organising the workshop adding that “Nigeria is clamouring for zero oil economy now. We don’t want to depend any longer on oil. And that is why this training workshop is important because it would afford the farmers a new way of doing cocoa, harvesting cocoa and a new way of other farm procedures.”
The Chairman of Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, Osun State, Raji Musa Akanni, commended the organisations for the training, saying “it will go a long way to preventing cocoa farmers from wrong practices like sun-drying cocoa produce along the road and using wrong chemicals.”
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of CRIN, Patrick Adebola, represented by the Director of Training, Sunday Agbeniyi, charged cocoa farmers to adopt modern methods of cultivation to improve quality and ensure the competitiveness of the cocoa beans in the international market.
