The booming cocoa price has sparked interest in turning Nigeria into a bigger player in the industry, hoping to challenge top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana, where crops are destroyed by climate change and disease.
Nigeria has been working to diversify its oil-dependent economy, but investors have looked at cocoa beans once again after global prices soared to $12,000 per ton in December.
“Farmers have never been that good,” Patrick Adebola, executive director of the Nigerian Cocoa Institute, told AFP.
More than a dozen local companies have expressed interest in investing or expanding their production this year, while the UK government’s development finance department recently invested $40.5 million in Nigerian agribusiness Johnvents.
Nigeria is the seventh largest producer of cocoa beans in the world, producing more than 280,000 tons in 2023, according to the latest data collected by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
The government has set an ambitious production target for the 2024-2025 season, which will rank fourth in fourth place like Gate Coast, Ghana and Indonesia.
Adebola doubts that Nigeria will reach its target this season, but he believes this will work in the coming years as there is little interest in restoring old plantations or building new ones.
He said Nigerian growers are exposed to the highs and lows of the global cocoa market, rather than peers like the Goose Coast and Ghana, as prices are regulated in these countries.
New York’s cocoa futures contracts have fallen since December’s record, but their heights are still above $8,000 per ton. Cocoa prices are typically between $2,000 and $3,000 before the recent surge.
Comrade Adeola Adegoke, president of the Nigerian Cocoa Farmers Association, said: “Individuals are doing cocoa production at all levels… to ensure they enjoy the current prices as well.”
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Ivory Coast is the world’s highest grower to date, producing more than 2 million tons of cocoa beans in 2023, followed by 650,000 tons in Ghana.
However, due to poor crops hit by severe weather and disease, the two countries have produced poor harvests, resulting in short supply, bringing global prices to historical highs.
Nigeria’s cocoa has largely survived the worst effects of climate change, but expanding crops can pose environmental risks.
The government has promoted long-term absent sector efforts through the National Cocoa Management Commitcon, which was established in 2022 to regulate the industry and support farmers.
