The Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) has disclosed a threat by the European Union to reject cocoas from Nigeria starting from next year due to a fall in the quality of the product.

Addressing journalists at a press conference in Abuja, the President of the association, Adeola Adegoke, said cocoa farmers were currently apprehensive over the threat by the EU.

According to Adegoke, the EU policy on the overdose of chemicals on Nigeria’s cocoa could be the reason for the rejection of the commodity produced in Nigeria.

He said, “Our buyers are complaining of the quality of cocoa produced. They are now threatening Nigeria that they are going to reject our cocoa, and that is a very serious issue that would be addressed at the summit.

“We are also looking at the EU policy, which says as long as we continue to use chemicals more than the original level, our cocoas will be rejected in 2022. Are we going to wait till 2022, as we did during the beans ban? We don’t need to wait for this. So the summit will address these issues.”

Adegoke also stated that the production level of 250,000 metric tonnes of cocoa, which the country presently produces, was abysmally low compared to other countries.

“This is very important in our drive. Presently, it is unacceptable to us as stakeholders for Nigeria to have the land, resources, and manpower to be producing 250,000MT, whereas Ivory Coast that does not enjoy the land that we have, produces about 2.5 million to 2.8 million MT. Even Ghana produces 1.5 million MT\,” he added.

Furthermore, he explained that the ranking of Nigeria as the second-largest producer of cocoa in the world had dropped, while other African countries were producing a million times.

“Our average productivity per hectare is rated to be about 300 to 350kg, whereas in Ghana and Ivory Coast, have average production per hectare of 800 to1000kg,” Adegoke said.

source agro nigeria