Association urges Cross River govt to suspend regulations on cocoa, others

The President, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr Victor Iyama has urged the Governor of Cross River State, Professor Ben Ayade to discontinue his plan to regulate cocoa and other agricultural produce, stating that it will be economically retrogressive to farmers and other stakeholders at the value chains of productivity and marketing.

Iyama during a session with the media frowned at the step being taken through an Executive Order Bill initiated by Governor Ayade to deprive farmers of freely selling their cocoa produce to buyers of their choice.

He said the issue would be officially reported to the National Chairman of the Action Peoples’ Congress ( APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu so as to prevail on the Governor to discontinue the policy which he said is capable of rendering the farmers and their families, and those engaged as local buyers, merchants and importers jobless.

He said the new policy is targeted at making it illegal for anybody to sell agricultural produce outside the state but rather directly to the government-owned company, thereby negating the right of farmers to sell to buyers of their choice.

The FACAN President expressed that he would have expected the Government to rather concentrate on identifying farmers with agricultural inputs and extension training to enhance productivity than embarking on an obnoxious law that will short change pricing right of farmers to selling to self individuals under the guise of government law.

‘’We are using the occasion to call on the APC chairman to prevail over governor Ayade to desist from the pursuit of this law that is already at the state Assembly receiving attention. We the body of FACAN and the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) was against the proposed law.

“The new law will not in any way benefit farmers but will rather create unemployment for their children who have already engaged in the value chains of cocoa productivity and other agricultural produce as importers and other stakeholders at the value of all these crops will also be rendered jobless,” he stated.

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