Nigeria aims at obtaining greater share of the $200bn revenue generated from the cocoa market #nigeria

THE Federal Government is intensifying the implementation
of expansion projects for cocoa processing and
manufacturing in order to claim a greater share of the yearly
$200bn global market for finished goods made from cocoa.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun
Aganga, said with the repositioning, Nigeria would extract
immense value out of the cocoa industry.
He spoke in Abuja on Monday at the summit on Cocoa Value
Addition in Nigeria.
Aganga in a statement said, "The total global value of
exporting raw cocoa is approximately $10 billion a year; the
total value from chocolates alone, all made from cocoa, is
over $100 billion a year, while the total value of all finished
goods made from cocoa is estimated to be as high as $200
billion a year, all drawing from the same $10 billion raw
cocoa beans produced.
"With the situation today, about 76 per cent of total cocoa
produced is from Africa, but less than five per cent of the
wealth in the value chain is retained here. After many
decades of dominating cocoa production, it is worrying that
we still remain price takers, and capture so little value. This
is not right, and this is what we have set out to change".
He said with the expansion of cocoa processing and
manufacturing capacity, government is set to retain more of
the value of the cocoa industry in Nigeria, create jobs and
wealth for citizens and generate income for government.
The minister noted that the partnership between his
Ministry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Organised Private
Sector (OPS) was a very good evidence of President
Goodluck Jonathan's unwavering commitment to pushing
the frontiers of economic development and returning Nigeria
to the heights of its glory in the cocoa industry.
He said, "This event is a unique collaboration between three
parties - the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and
Investment; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development; and the Organised Private sector in the
Nigerian Cocoa industry.
"This is where future generations of Nigeria will remember
that, together, we turned the course of the Nigerian Cocoa
industry. We must, however, develop a bold vision for the
Nigerian Cocoa value chain, which will define a clear road
map with roles for all stakeholders."
Also, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr.
Akinwunmi Adesina, said his Ministry was working with the
Ministry of Industry, trade and Investment on a ministerial
memo on value chain that would unlock the cocoa sector.
He said the memo would be presented to the Federal
Executive Council, adding that government had provided 1.4
million pods of high breed cocoa to farmers, free of charge,
within two years.
This, he said, had increased cocoa output from 250,000 to
300,000.
European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Michel Arrior, said
Nigeria was the number one largest trading partner with
Europe with total trade volume of $50 billion in 2013.
"A good and well-functioning West Africa and Common
External Tariff is a welcome development and the European
Union has no trade offensive in Nigeria. Consumer and
finished products would be excluded from trading
agreement with Nigeria," he noted.
The Regional Director, United Nations Industrial
Development Organisation, Dr. Patrick Kormawa, stated
that, despite growing efforts of many African governments
and private sector to move their way up the value chain,
they remained constrained by the lack of appropriate
financing, technical and management deficiencies and
limited market access opportunities.
He urged the stakeholders' forum to further examine and
come up with plausible strategies to address the four key
problems inhibiting increased value addition to cocoa in
Nigeria.
Earlier, the Chairman, Cocoa Processors Association of
Nigeria (COPAN), Dimeji Owofemi, reiterated the importance
of the commodity board and the need to encourage youth
empowerment in cocoa and local processing, among others