Cocoa House: Fate of export crop in Nigeria

Cocoa House, the 26-storey edifice located at the Dugbe area of Ibadan, Oyo State, is arguably the first skyscraper in West Africa.

Initially called Ile Awon Agbe in Yoruba and translated as Farmers’ House, the 26-storey building was later renamed Cocoa House because it was built with proceeds from cocoa exportation and because there was a cocoa tree planted in front of the building, beside a water fountain.

Built by the defunct Western Region Government, majorly from the proceeds of cocoa, the building is the pride of a well harnessed agricultural sector.

John Olateru, an engineer and chairman of the All Farmers Association, Oyo State, told Daily Trust on Sunday that cocoa money was also used in building the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), formerly known as the Western Broadcasting Corporation, Liberty Stadium and others.

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Although a shadow of its glorious self, Cocoa House continues to stand tall amongst high-rising buildings in Africa by serving as offices for major firms and broadcasting companies despite the many travails that befell it, the end of the Western Region Government, many years of neglect by successive governments and the downward trend experienced by cocoa industry in the country since 1971.

Cocoa (theobroma cacao lineus) was judiciously used by the then Western Region Government to build some edifices, but unfortunately, despite its fortune in global market, its production in Nigeria has since been experiencing a downward trend as its export continues to decline, costing Nigeria millions of dollars that should have been realised from the cash crop.

It is disheartening that Nigeria still imports chocolates, a product mainly produced with cocoa beans, which can be abundantly produced in the country.

Over the years, the Nigerian government has tried to emphasize policies aimed at diversifying the present over dependence on oil by focusing on tree and food crops, such as cocoa and cassava. However, the products have not been doing well in terms of production performance and output. Being an invaluable crop and major foreign exchange commodity which importance has been attested to by stakeholders, it is dispiriting to note the level of challenges bedeviling the growth and prosperity of the precious pod’s industry, especially in western Nigeria, one of the dominant regions in West Africa, whose weather conditions favour the cultivation of the crop.

As argued by some, farming has become increasingly less appealing to young and agile people in Nigeria. The large exodus of the workforce to neighbouring Lagos and Ogun states is doing enough damage to the cocoa industry in Oyo State.

According to Mr Adebayo Taiwo Yusuf, an indigene of Oyo State and a commercial cocoa farmer, people’s indifference to farming is the origin of the many challenges cocoa farming is having.

“The challenges faced in cocoa farming begin with the reality of people’s disinterestedness in farming. Since all are becoming learned, they migrate to Lagos, look for a suitable office and ride choice cars instead of working on the farm.

“In recent times, however, the dearth of white collar jobs has made more people to embrace farming; hence, more people are getting involved in cocoa farming,” he said.

Despite the acclaimed recent entry of youths and the lofty agricultural programmes and expenditure of governments on the industry, cocoa farming, as well as other export crop farming, has recorded little or no advancement in recent times. This, therefore, calls for a critique of governments’ inputs and policies in the sector.

The lackadaisical attitude of the government is also a telling factor on the misfortune of the cocoa trade. Stakeholders have lamented the end of the days when western governments were monitoring the cultivation and marketing of cocoa because they were directly involved in the trade.

Olateru decried the decline in the attention cocoa is receiving from the government. He said, “In the olden days, when you were looking for seedlings, you would go to the departments producing hybrid seedlings and selling them at subsidised rates to farmers; unfortunately, that is a thing of the past.”

A farmer, Adebayo Taiwo Yusuf, affirmed that today, the government neithers buy nor sells cocoa as it was in the days of Awolowo; rather, their interest on cocoa is the tax levied on the business.

He added that government owns large hectares of cocoa farms along the Moniya/Iseyin road, just as a large portion of cocoa farms along the axis are also owned by individuals.

However, Olateru faulted the input and contribution of the state government to cocoa farming, saying, “What they are doing in Oyo State is not supporting grassroots farmers. They are looking at big and illegal farmers who will bring money for industries; the real grassroots farmers are not being supported in any area. That is the government we have in operation here in Oyo State.

“Unless this changes tomorrow, the policy of the government does not favour grassroots farmers in Oyo State. And that is not limited to only cocoa farming.

“We hear that Ondo is doing some things now, but generally, in the South West here, the kind of response from our government towards grassroots farmers is not as encouraging as it ought to be.”

He added that encouraging the efforts of local farmers who have been adding value to cocoa farming is crucial. Although the output has not matched those of the glory years of cocoa exportation, more encouragement could speak volume.

He continued, “The only area we are getting some level of support is the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), but you know, when you are not having the government’s support, it won’t be as it is supposed to be.”

According to the AFA boss, it is very possible to replicate the great achievements attained through cocoa farming in the Awolowo era.

“The DON commission was set up as a means of working cooperation on how to develop agriculture among the six south western states; and it had an office in the cocoa building,” he said.

He insisted that the influence of government is crucial, especially in combating the challenges faced by farmers, especially as regards seedling, availability of chemicals, replacement of old stock and enhancing the support base.