Nigerian company distributes one milion cocoa seedlings to farmers

Olam Nigeria Ltd. has distributed one million hybrid cocoa seedlings to farmers at the beginning of the planting season to enable them expand their production. The company has also embarked on series of farmer training programmes. The company said it supports government plans at regaining the country's lost glory in cocoa production and to be at par with countries like Brazil and Cote d’Ivoire.

According to the company’s business manager, Ade Adesida, training programmes have been organised for cocoa farmers in Ogun, Edo, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Lagos States. Olam, he said, believes that a well developed agricultural sector will create employment opportunities, alleviate poverty and guarantee a stable means of livelihood to farmers. Speaking at a training seminar organised by his company for farmers on quality control processing, packaging and general maintenance of the cocoa farm to enhance production, Adesida said that Olam would revolutionize the agricultural sector and boost the nation’s socioeconomic development. He said the training also became imperative because of increasing impurities and presence of Free Fatty Acid (FFA) in Nigeria’s cocoa beans, saying that this had been working against Nigeria’s cocoa on the international market.

Adesida said that farmers in rural areas were included in the training programme as part of efforts to correct the recent observation of “slaty” in cocoa beans from Edo State, explaining that the problem was due to lack of proper fermentation. “Some farmers will pluck cocoa and start sun drying it the same day. This practice is extremely bad and it is as a result of this that cocoa from Edo state usually sells at a discount. Instead of encouraging discount sale, farmers should imbibe a good quality culture to attract premium pricing and shun the attitude of get rich quick through improper fermentation of the crop,” he said.

He said that five days of fermentation should be observed to have good quality that will meet international standards. Adesida noted that over 500 farmers participated in the training programme which covers areas like quality verification, harvest, post harvest handling and pruning of the old cocoa trees. A course resource person, Anant Patil, gave lecture on the application of chemical inputs to boost production and said that Olam had acquired a cocoa mill to add value to cocoa production. According to him, the company’s assistance to farmers would have multiplier effects on the manufacturing sector as manufacturers of beverages will now have direct access to products like cocoa butter, liquor, powder and cake among others.

Vanguard