COCOA ROUNDTABLE INITIATIVE CALLS FOR FUNDING, TRANSFORMATION OF NATIONAL COCOA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE INTO BOARD
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COCOA ROUNDTABLE INITIATIVE CALLS FOR FUNDING, TRANSFORMATION OF NATIONAL COCOA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE INTO BOARD
…CFAN President, Adeola Adegoke emphasized that EU policy might affect Nigeria if proper regulation and funding to support industry are not put in place
The Cocoa Roundtable Initiative has appealed to President Bola Tinubu for transformation of the National Cocoa Management Committee into Board.
The Initiative in an open letter to the President also called for the funding National Task on EUDR and subsidized inputs support to cocoa farmers of Nigeria to enhance cocoa production and productivity in 2025.
According to the letter signed by the Director-General of Cocoa Roundtable Initiative and
National President, Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria,
Comrade Adeola Adegoke appealed to the President not to reverse the present prosperity of cocoa farmers through EU sanctioning of any unsustainable cocoa place on EU market after 2024 December but now to be extended by another 12 months.
(Full Text)
OPEN LETTER
H.E, Ahmed Bola Tinubu
The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria & C-IN-C of the Armed Forces.
State House, Abuja.
Your Excellency,
COCOA ROUNDTABLE INITIATIVE (CORI) APPEALS FOR THE FUNDING / TRANSFORMATION OF THE NATIONAL COCOA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (NCMC) INTO BOARD, FUNDING OF NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON EUDR AND SUBSIDIZED INPUTS SUPPORT TO THE COCOA FARMERS OF NIGERIA TO ENHANCE COCOA PRODUCTION & PRODUCTIVITY IN 2025.
Warm greetings to your Excellency for your great efforts to move the country forward and bring transformation to all critical sectors of Nigeria. It is our firm belief that Nigeria is on a path to greatness despite the excruciating economic consequences of your administration reform which some people referred to as T-Pain but we rather see it as T-Gain and T-Sustainability.
However, Cocoa Roundtable Initiative (CORI) whose mission is to work towards the sustainability of the cocoa economy of Nigeria and in particular, the transformation of the livelihood of our cocoa farmers through rural prosperity is bringing the attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the need to fund / transform the National Cocoa Management Committee, saddled with the responsibility of regulating the cocoa economy of Nigeria into board, provide funding to the National Task Force on EUDR to save the industry investment which is worth a one billion dollars and provision of subsidized inputs to our cocoa farmers to enhance their productivity that will translate into more income for them and revenue for Government at all levels in 2025.
Mr. President, it is interesting to note that the performance of the cocoa sector in the last one year in the generation of FX and top earnings in the non-crude oil sector cannot be taken for granted. According to the NBS report your Excellency, the cocoa exports rose by 304 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 due to higher demand and weak naira. The country’s cocoa exports, which accounted for 42.4 percent of the N1.04 trillion agricultural exports for the period, surged to N438.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024 from N108,6 billion in the corresponding period of 2023. And the good prospect of this development in the sector is in the stabilization of the price of cocoa which is not less than 10 million naira per MT in the last one year.
Also, NCMC was put in place in August 2022 by the past administration due to pressures mounted by the smallholder cocoa farmers of Nigeria under Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) that condemned the total free market of the cocoa industry without regulation in consideration of the sector’s contribution to the economy of Nigeria, challenges confronting the smallholder cocoa farmers due to low production, productivity – post harvest challenges which affect quality and the need to come up with the necessary framework on EUDR implementation which poses future challenges to our global cocoa market future.
Cocoa Roundtable Initiative (CORI) appeals to your Excellency to passionately look into the funding of this critical sector in order not to reverse the present prosperity of our cocoa farmers through EU sanctioning of any unsustainable cocoa place on EU market after 2024 December but now to be extended by another 12 months. This EU policy might affect Nigeria cocoa sector if proper regulation, funding and legal framework to support NCMC and NTF operations to combat the industry challenges are not put in place. Mr. President should not forget that one of his promises during his campaign was to provide boards for some critical agricultural commodities which will not be involved in buying but developing and regulating such sector of which cocoa should takes preference as a leading FX provider and internal revenue generation in the country.
Your Excellency, we believe the case of cocoa had been settled with the setting-up of the National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC )but has been so far hampered in operations in the last two years due to lack of funding to perform her statutory regulatory responsibilities and her legal status to transform into a board through the National Assembly legal backing. Funding has continuously affecting the operations of the Committee sustainability responsibilities in the area of quality control, contract arbitration to safe guide investors funding, child labour monitoring & remediation, deforestation and afforestation program, capacity building & development , cocoa and agroforestry intensification, cocoa communities rural infrastructures, post harvest challenges, traceability, climate change, monitoring and evaluation of various sustainability projects / activities etc.
We urge Mr. President, Governors of the cocoa producing States and lovers of the Nigerian cocoa industry to look into the funding and legal framework support to NCMC through the National Assembly in order to save the industry from regulatory lapses that could undermine the present gains of high price of cocoa beans that is not less than 10million per MT that our cocoa farmers are currently enjoying and Nigeria determination to become the highest cocoa producing country in West Africa before 2027.
We assure Mr. President and the industry players that Cocoa Roundtable Initiative (CORI) will continue to collaborate with all relevant partners to bring development into the sector and deepen sustainable practices in our supply chain for a robust cocoa economy and transformative prosperity of our cocoa farmers livelihoods.
We believe in your administration commitment to transform the economy of the country your Excellency and your ability to look into the issues raised inter alia.
Thanks for your anticipatory follow up actions to save our industry Mr. President.
Best wishes.
Comrade Adeola Adegoke
DG, Cocoa Roundtable Initiative (CORI) &
National President, Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN).
CC:
⬜ Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari
⬜ Honorable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr.Jumoke Oduwole
⬜ All cocoa producing State Governors.
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