Nigerian Cocoa farmers are reaping big as the price of Cocoa reached a new historic high of $5,874, a ton early February while the farm-gate now cost N7 million per ton.
It’s a windfall for Nigerian cocoa farmers and exporters due to the steep naira devaluation that has resulted in a sharp increase in the naira income from the export of the beans.
The cost of cocoa, the key ingredient for making chocolate has almost doubled since the start of the year.
Bad weather has affected harvest in top West African growers like Ivory Coast and Ghana, causing a supply shortfall and sending prices surging.
Locally, prices are also surging as the naira continues on a free fall hitting N1, 534 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, data from FMDQ showed.
Speaking on the situation, National president, Cocoa Association of Nigeria, Mufutau Abilarinwa said, ‘’cocoa farmers and exporters are cashing out from the record surge in global prices of the commodities.
“As we speak, the farm-gate price is between N6.5 and N 7 million. We are still in the main-crop season ending early March. This is one of the times that we cocoa farmers are proud of our profession,” he added.
Also speaking, the founder and CEO, Springboard Farmers’ Co-operative of Nigeria, Lawrence Afere said, ‘’some farmers are mopping up the beans from neighbouring West African countries to sell to exporters.
He said, ‘’this is one of the moments that it is exciting to be a cocoa farmer as prices keep surging daily.
“The naira devaluation and surge in global prices owing to a shortfall from top producers is benefitting cocoa farmers greatly. Exporters are exporting a ton between N8 and N8.5 million,” he added.
According to the International Cocoa Organization’s latest data on global production, Nigeria as the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer and supplier, , saw the value of its global supply decline by 3.4 percent to 280,000 metric tonnes in the 2022–2023 season.
However, the cocoa association is optimistic that the country will increase its production output for the 2023-2024 cocoa season.
