Rising cocoa prices are igniting interest in making Nigeria a more significant player in the market to compete with leading producers Ghana and Ivory Coast, whose crops have been devastated by disease and climate change.
Investors have given cocoa beans another look after world prices surged to a record $12,000 per tonne in December, despite Nigeria’s struggles to diversify its oil-dependent economy.
According to Patrick Adebola, executive director of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, “the farmers have never had it so good.”
The British government’s development financing arm recently invested $40.5 million in Nigerian agriculture company Johnvents, and over a dozen local companies have indicated interest in investing in or growing their operations this year.
As to the latest data published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Nigeria ranks seventh globally in terms of cocoa bean production, with over 280,000 tonnes produced in 2023.
For the 2024–2025 season, the government has set an ambitious output target of 500,000 tonnes, which would place it fourth behind Ghana, Indonesia, and Ivory Coast.
Although Adebola is sceptical that Nigeria would meet the goal this season, he thinks it is possible in the coming years due to growing interest in creating new plantations or restoring existing ones.
He claimed that because prices are controlled in Ghana and Ivory Coast, Nigerian growers are far more vulnerable to the peaks and valleys of the world cocoa market than their counterparts in those nations.
Despite a decline from their December peak, New York cocoa futures contracts are still trading for over $8,000 a tonne. Before the recent spike, cocoa prices usually fell between $2,000 and $3,000.
Comrade Adeola Adegoke, president of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, stated, “People are entering the cocoa industry at every level… to ensure they also enjoy the current price.”
– ‘Full-sun’ monocrop –
With over two million tonnes of cocoa beans produced in 2023, Ivory Coast is by far the largest producer in the world, followed by Ghana with 650,000 tonnes.
However, last year’s harvests in both nations were low due to crop damage from disease and severe weather, which resulted in a shortfall of supply and drove worldwide prices to all-time highs.
Although Nigeria’s cocoa has so far been mostly immune to the harshest effects of climate change, growing the crop could have negative environmental effects.
Through the National Cocoa Management Committee, which was founded in 2022 to oversee the sector and assist farmers, the government has increased its efforts to support the long-unregulated sector.
However, the growth of “full-sun” monocrop plantations—which solely concentrate on growing cocoa beans without the use of trees or companion plants—has been aided by efforts to modernise agriculture.
This strategy has drawn criticism from a recent study published in the journal Agroforestry Systems, which claims that producing beans alone may not be as sustainable as growing them with shade trees, which enhance biodiversity and environmental health.
– Land and money? –
Another factor that may make scaling up the industry difficult is that small-scale farmers in Nigeria produce the majority of the country’s cocoa.
To develop his four-hectare (10-acre) cocoa plantation, Peter Okunde, an Ogun State farmer, told AFP he does not have the necessary funds or land.
“The main tool farmers need is land… and the money to develop it,” stated 49-year-old Okunde.
This week, however, John Alamu, group managing director of Johnvents, told CNBC Africa that “land area is not the problem.”
He told the broadcaster that a more comprehensive strategy was required, pointing out that Nigeria has 1.4 million hectares devoted to cocoa cultivation, which is more than Ghana’s 1.1 million.
“These are things (other) governments have used to support farmers: provision of seedlings, training on good agronomic practices, a real focus on sustainable agriculture.
“These are key things that will be responsible for taking Nigeria back to its leadership position,” he added.
