₦airaland Forum

I stand to be corrected

the light weight of cocoa end product and the fact that it is high susceptible to diseases and insect makes cocoa farming a very risky cash crop farming .the recent increase in the market value of cocoa was due to the low yield experienced by farmers recently however we cannot abandoned cocoa farming in Africa because it is our agribusiness heritage and our pride and to the farmers that want to venture into cocoa farming be prepared to work on a reliable pest and disease fumigation regime and schedule .cocoa farming could have been more easier and profitable if the farmer can sell it with the pod while the off taker do the sun drying themselves but the farmer going through the stress of farming cocoa and now have to handle some part of the post harvest activities of sun drying is the reason why cocoa farming is very tedious .I will advise an average farmer to farm oil palm tree instead of cocoa because with oil palm tree you can sell the fruits without adding value and use the proceeds to start a mini processing factory after som years of selling fresh fruits .the case is different with cocoa .I can provide you with pictures of cocoa farms wasting away due to pest and diseases attack mostly black pod disease of cocoa is a major risk in cocoa farming .For cocoa farming to become sustainable in Africa our government should support the farmers by providing extension services that will provide input to farmers to guide the farms against pest and diseases which as destroy most cocoa farms and the government most also partner with private organization to build cocoa processing factories that will off take harvested cocoa pod not the dry seed from farmers then the government and the private companies can process and export to earn more foreign exchange


07062053560

Next time try to paraphrase your writing for easy read.

All I could get from your writing is for government to establish a facility to help in processing cocoa seeds from the pods as the farmers lack the skill to handle the post harvest.

If I may add, cocoa farming needs a very keen attention as many factors affect its survival and yield such as drought, diseases, etc.

People want the government to do everything for them. Lol. Awolowo's time when he single handedly cultivated cash crops for our parents and grandparents is over. Time has changed, and the season has changed. He was successful cos the eco system has not been bastardized like this.

The government has gone into such projects, but when there are hindrances, they can not succeed. If you notice, even in the US, private sectors and research Institutes are the bodies solving agro-chalenges. Lol. We created the problems for ourselves. Mechanised farming, oil exploits, and carbon burning are the reasons for climatic change.

So, research is what we need. We need rootstock for cocoa. The Philippines has started using them, so why can't Nigeria find solutions. Our research Institutes are
just struggling to survive. Though, individuals there are doing their best. If the government should empower them, one director will loot all... like that 419 guy in FIIRO with a fake PhD cert from Benin Republic.

There is no aspect of agric that is not good. Both palm oil and cocoa are extremely good.

Another challenge is land. Give land to people who want to do agric. The government should take away land from families who are just holding yo them. They should be compensated, and then, the land should be put to use.

Security should be provided.

These are areas the government should come in. Stop asking the government to fund your personal business...stop asking the government to subsidise what you know you are not going to do.

Wise Advice

I subscribe to this thought