Grand finale of cocoa festival held in Eti-Oni ancient town was witnessed yesterday by tourists from various parts of the world. The cocoa festival is the first of its kind in Africa and it was set up to motivate cocoa farmers to step up their production.

The event was designed to train the cocoa farmers and sensitize them on the modern technology in cocoa farming so that they would be producing high quality cocoa and make maximum profit.

A Farmer Field School was organised at Eti-Oni in which experts from Osun State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security were taken to the cocoa farms to train the cocoa farmers on the best way to cultivate, harvest and market their cocoa.

The traditional ruler of Eti-Oni, the Oloni of Eti-Oni, Oba Dokun Thompson, was commended by Aregbesola, who was represented by the Director General of the Office of Economic Development, (OEDP), Dr Charles Akinola, for initiating the cocoa festival.

The governor said the festival has provided a veritable platform to bring stakeholders in the cocoa business together to share ideas on cocoa production and other aspects of agribusiness as a way out of the
current economic recession.

Aregbesola urged other traditional rulers in the state to take a leaf out of Oloni of Eti-Oni by coming up with initiatives that would promote the agriculture potentials in their domains.

The monarch said the festival attracted tourists from different parts of the world because of the historical background of the Eti-Oni as the pioneer of cocoa production in Nigeria. Oba Thompson added that because of the significant roles played by his forefather, Gureje in the Kiriji/Ekiti Parapo war which terminated between Igbajo and Imesi-Ile in Osun State, the cocoa festival would
also be used to mark the 130 years of the signing of the treaty that brought war to an end.

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