Cocoa farmers count gains as cocoa bean prices soar

Cocoa farmers in the agrarian communities of Oyo State are counting their gains from the soaring prices of cocoa beans in the outgoing season.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan, the state capital, on Wednesday, a cross-section of cocoa farmers confirmed that the 2024 farming season was the most profitable of their farming years.

According to them, proceeds from cocoa farming in the outgoing season tripled what they realised in the previous cocoa farming season.

They said the development had positively impacted their living standard, as some had conveniently embarked on house-building projects, buying cars and motorcycles among others.

Nurudeen Alimi, a cocoa farmer at Elede Ominigbo Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area (LGA), said he was able to get above 860 kilogrammes of cocoa beans from his farm.

According to Mr Alimi, a kilogramme of cocoa beans, which cost between N2,800 and N4,000 in December 2023, was sold for N12,000 by the middle of December 2024.

The farmer, however, said there was a decline in the quantity of cocoa beans realised from his farm in the outgoing season due to diseases such as black pod and cocoa swollen shoot virus.

“Despite this, the money realised from sales of cocoa beans this season is far higher than the total amount I made in five years.

“It has enabled me to start building a four-bedroom flat in Eruwa town and to enjoy a better livelihood,” he said.

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Tiamiyu Afolabi, who has a cocoa plantation at Ore farm settlement, described the current price spike as a blessing to cocoa farmers.

Mr Afolabi, who disclosed he had realised over N25 million from his cocoa farm in the outgoing season, said the effect of the price hike on his livelihood was encouraging.

“I reluctantly started cocoa and kola nut farming in 2005 after my secondary school education because I couldn’t cope academically.

“I always envied my schoolmates, believing they would be far better off than me in the future, but I can proudly say now that I made a better choice.

“Hardly can the gratuity of any of my schoolmates retiring from government jobs match what I realised from the sales of my cocoa beans this farming season alone,” Mr Afolabi said.

Another cocoa farmer at Erunmu in Egbeda LGA, Taofeek Adesola, said he returned to the village in 2020 to take care of his late father’s cocoa farm after he lost his job in Lagos.

Mr Adesola expressed delight over the development, saying it had transformed his status.

“I have renovated my late father’s house at Lalupon and equally started building my own house from the cocoa beans’ proceeds,” he said.

He further stated his plan to start cultivating more high-yielding seedlings to replace old cocoa trees on his late father’s farm in the coming season.

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On his part, a cocoa produce buyer, Ezekiel Olagunju, confirmed the development, attributing it to naira devaluation.

This, he said, resulted in a sharp increase in the naira income from the export of cocoa beans.

Mr Olagunju further attributed the boom to the shortfall in cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana as a result of bad weather in the two countries.

According to him, the two countries are the top cocoa growers in West Africa but a shortfall in the countries resulted in a high demand in the world market.

He admonished cocoa farmers to judiciously manage their cocoa proceeds by investing in what would profit them in the long run.

(NAN)