Ahead of December 30, 2024 deadline, cocoa exporters and farmers in Nigerian are facing challenges of how to comply with a new regulations introduced by the European Union on its estimated 270,000 tonnes of cocoa beans valued at $2.12 billion. This is coming as a tonne of the commodity is priced at N1.8 million in January 2024 is now valued at N11.2 million per tonne in Nigeria aand $10, 150 in the global market because of the 700,000 tonnes deficit valued at $7.1 billion in the global market.
It was learnt that the country, which is expected to produce 270,000 tonnes from the16 cocoa producing states in 2024, was still battling with poor packaging, deforestation, pest and diseases among other challenges. Worried by the spate of deforestation, European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) said that from September 2024, it would prohibit the products from entering the EU market unless they are deforestation-free and legally produced.
It was learnt that this prompted the National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) to convene a meeting of stakeholders in the sector in Abuja to strategize how to boost Nigeria’s cocoa production and address the gap to ensure the country complies with EU standards. The committee was inaugurated by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and comprises of members that cut across all the sectors in the cocoa value chain.
The Executive Director of the Committee, Patrick Adebola, explained that government and all stakeholders were putting heads together on the EUDR, noting that if Nigeria failed to comply with the standards, the country may no longer be able to export cocoa beans and products to Europe, the biggest market for the country. Adebola noted that Nigeria exports about 70 per cent of cocoa beans to Europe, stressing that failure to meet the standards set would significantly impact the value chain.
According to him, “the key issue that we are discussing in this meeting is the issue of the EUDR regulation on our cocoa that will come into force in December 2024. If we are found not to be compliant, it means our cocoa beans may not be accepted to be sold in European markets.” Although he said that the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) was providing support to enable Nigeria comply with the standards, he, however, complained that EUDR was unfair and stringent as the organisation did not consult widely with exporting countries before drafting such regulation.
Adebola stressed the regulation also prohibited cocoa planted and harvested through child labour, saying that said its definition of child labour may not apply to Nigerian context. He said: “One of the contentious issues in this regulation is that they don’t want our cocoa beans that are being harvested from deforested area because deforestation leads to environmental degradation, even though we are arguing with them that when you cut down a tree and plant cocoa tree, that is not a deforestation.
We were not given an opportunity to discuss before the EU regulation. “We feel these regulation are very stringent and Nigeria will need a lot of help in order for us to to comply with this stringent regulation. We see it as being unfair and we felt that countries that are involved were not really fully engaged before this EUDR was rolled out.” According to him, only about 50 per cent of the exporting countries would be able to comply with this stringent regulation before the deadline of December 2024.
Also, the National President of Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mufutau Abolarinwa, said that the meeting also sought to explore ways to increase cocoa production in addition to meeting set standards for export. He urged government to provide more incentives, particularly to subsidise expensive herbicides and chemicals, urging wants governments to bring back the waiver on hydro-carbon jute bags which were necessary for export.
Abolarinwa said: “The waiver has to be returned without any further delay by the Federal Government or else Nigerian cocoa is in danger for export in this coming cocoa season.” Also, the National President, Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Adeola Adegoke said that a tonne of cocoa was N11million, which shows the potential for Nigeria to get the most desired foreign exchange, which can also be channel into local production.