FG to Review Cocoa/Commodity Laws, Develop National Cocoa Policy

Juliet Akoje, Abuja
The House of representatives has mandated its Committee on Agricultural Production and Services to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to review all existing Cocoa/Commodity Laws and develop a National Cocoa Policy to reposition the country as the largest producer in Africa and its recognizable position in the world and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

The resolution was sequel to the adoption of a motion on the need to Review the Cocoa Production Policy of the Country moved by Hon. Admin Aliu Kuye at plenary.

Kuye while presenting the motion noted that Nigeria was once a major player in cocoa production, being the second-largest producer in the world with 450,000 tons, and the country’s top foreign exchange earner in the 1950s and 1960s before the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in the 1970s.

He explained that the Nigerian Cocoa Market crashed in the 1990s as production fell to 170,000 tons and was impacted by the Structural Adjustment Policies of the late 1980s that included the dissolution of the Cocoa Marketing Board to liberalize cocoa marketing trade and allow improved cocoa output and pricing.

He said, “The National Cocoa Development Committee, Established in December 1999 by the Obasanjo Administration, was tasked to improve cocoa quality and increase production from 170,000 tons to 300,000 tons and 600,000 tons per annum in the short and long term respectively. Despite the availability of arable land and climate to sustain Cocoa production in Nigeria, the country has fallen down the line in the pecking order in Africa and the world respectively”

“Over 100 billion naira revenue is lost annually due to the Federal Government’s non-commitment to find sustainable, executable solutions to problems bedeviling the Cocoa Industry. Despite the cyclical ambivalence of oil, the country’s major foreign exchange earner, the Federal Government has been unable to look into cocoa which is a potential growth sector that could serve as a buffer during periods of oil-induced recessions.”