NIGERIA – Stakeholders in Nigeria’s cocoa and chocolate industry are gearing up for the 2024 International Cocoa and Chocolate Forum (ICCF) to be held in Abuja and Lagos on January 9 and January 11, 2024, respectively.
The conference, themed “Putting Value in Cocoa at the Producing Region,” is set to explore strategies to enhance Nigeria’s cocoa sector, aiming to restore the country as a leading non-oil export commodity.
Organized in partnership with the Nigerian Export and Import Bank (NEXIM Bank) and the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), the ICCF 2024 conference serves as a follow-up to the discussions initiated during the UK edition held in October 2023.
Shola Mohammed, the Team Lead for ICCF 2024, emphasized that the event is a call to action, seeking to align policy formation with investment requirements to cultivate a cocoa culture that adds intentional value and creates wealth at the origin.
Abba Bello, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of NEXIM Bank said, “Nigeria has lost its leading position in the production and export of cocoa over the years to now rank about the 4th producer behind countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia.
This problem can be attributed mainly to the aged plantations and lack of investment in the sector over the years.”
Bello stressed the urgency of addressing these issues to reclaim Nigeria’s status in the global cocoa industry.
The value proposition of the cocoa industry is significant, with an estimated worth of US$200 billion annually.
However, the entire West African producing region, including Nigeria, that represents about 70-75% of global output earns only about US$10 billion.
A report by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in 2021 revealed that while Nigeria produced 208 MT of cocoa beans, the total income generated was only US$628 million.
In contrast, Germany, a non-cocoa-producing country, earned US$57.3 billion from the export of cocoa products.
The ICCF 2024 conference aims to address these disparities by fostering discussions on policy reforms, increased investments, and shared value creation within the cocoa value chain.
Nigeria’s Cocoa Research Institute (CRIN) has been at the forefront of efforts to boost the industry, launching eight new cocoa hybrid varieties in 2011, designed for early yielding, high productivity, drought and disease resistance, high butter content, and appealing aroma.
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