$15million Cocoa City Project in Cross River State.

$15million Cocoa City Project in Cross River State.

Cocoa is a profitable cash crop due to its diverse value chain products. It is the leading agricultural export in Nigeria and has been a major foreign exchange earner for the country since the early 1950s. Nigeria is currently the world’s fourth-largest producer of Cocoa, after Ivory Coast, Indonesia, and Ghana.

The continuous increase in local and international demand for cocoa and its end products by industries and households in Nigeria has steered the need to invest in the production of cocoa in order to meet the high demand.

Positively, the Cross River State government is embarking on the establishment of a Cocoa City Project after it finalized an agreement to the tune of $15 million with an Israeli based Agric-Firm, Bean & Co. Global Ltd. Bean &Co. Global Ltd is a global cocoa company that grows and cultivates large scale sustainable cocoa plantations worldwide especially in South America, Africa, Oceania and Asia and produces raw and innovative products from the remains of the cocoa pod.

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This memorandum was signed by the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Okon Owuna, the Director-General of Cocoa Regeneration Agency, Mr. Collins Ogar, on behalf of the Cross River state government and Managing Partner, LR Group, and Bean & Co, Mr. Doron Rette, who signed on behalf of the company. It was revealed by the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Okon Owuna that 65% of the project sum would be covered by Bean & Co and its partners, while the state government would cover the remaining.

The first component of the agreement will see to the establishment of an Agro-Industrial Centre, a processing plant, seedlings nursery, and training facility, and the pulp powder and dry cocoa beans for export. While the second component will facilitate the empowerment of local cocoa farmers as the project is expected to increase cocoa farmers’ earnings three times over and increase productivity six times over. Also, this project will lead to the massive creation of job opportunities and technology transfer for the people of Cross Rivers.

The project, upon completion, is targeted at engaging thousands of farmers under the technical protocol of Bean & Co.

“Under the funding proposal, the farmers will receive about N2.4million loan for four years to cover seedlings, pesticides, fertilizers, training, growing protocols, and other necessary inputs,” the commissioner stated.

This investment will undoubtedly be a great contribution to the growth of Nigeria’s Agricultural sector.