Cocoa farmers allege importation of substandard inputs by ministry

COCOA farmers under the aegis of the National Association of Cocoa Farmers have called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to, as a matter of urgency, wade into the issue of substandard cocoa input allegedly being planned for procurement by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

The association which raised the alarm over the procurrement of substandard agricultural inputs for production of cocoa said the procurement of these substandard input had been affecting production of cocoa every year.

The association frowned at the attitude of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture of procuring inputs for cocoa without consulting the association who can put the officials of the ministry on the right track.

The association in a communique issued at the end of the meeting of the national executive council of the association, called on President Buhari to reorganise the procurement process of cocoa value chain in order to give room for the contribution of the association.

The communique which was jointly signed by the National President of the association, Chief Raimi Adeniyi and other farmers representatives from all cocoa producing states called for reversal of the system and called for the integration of the association into the system.

The association listed some of the substandard inputs allegedly planned to be procured by the ministry to include : solo sprayers, fungicides jute bags, cutlasses, among others.

The communique read in part, “ CFAN condemned the manners of procuring inputs for cocoa farmers of Nigeria without our contribution as the representatives of all the cocoa farmers in Nigeria.

“Almost a quarter of our cocoa plantations were destroyed by fire during last year dry season without any support from the Federal Government in spite of our letter of complaint to the ministry.

“ The low cocoa production recorded last year across the country could be linked to  non-usage and unavailability of some cocoa inputs by the cocoa farmers due to fake  inputs’ negative impact on the produce. “

The association threatened to hold a mega protest across the cocoa producing states including Abuja if their recommendations are not considered by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh.