He said, “On a scale of 1 to 10, I will rate them five. A lot has been done, but one of the issues here is the lack of inter-agency cooperation. In a recent survey that I did in the cocoa sector, we had about 27 federal ministries, departments and agencies involved in cocoa. That is a fiasco. Each of them has funding and overlapping mandates. This is not good for the economy.
“In the area of quality assurance, you have the federal produce agencies, you have the private inspection agencies, the quarantine services, you have the NAFDAC, SON, Customs, NPA, all of them involved in quality assurance. But between and across all these agencies, there is no cooperation between them. It is not seamless, and there is a lack of cooperation. This affects what government is doing in spite of policies and protocols that should support the production of cocoa in Nigeria.
He further stressed the need for proper awareness to increase local consumption of cocoa in the country, which will likely boost the income of cocoa farmers who have been struggling in the sector. The expert, who is also a Technical Adviser to the Ondo State Cocoa Council and the Nigerian Focal Point for the ICCO-led Africa Cocoa Exchange Feasibility Study, expressed confidence that the nation’s cocoa sector could be a major foreign exchange earner if properly harnessed.
He emphasised the need to put in place measures that will make Nigeria regain its position as the number one cocoa exporter in the world.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.