Boost investments in cocoa, CapitalSage CEO urges FG

The Chief Executive Officer of CapitalSage Holdings, John Alamu, has called on the Federal Government to boost investments in the cocoa value chain.

Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH, Alamu said Nigeria, currently the fourth largest cocoa producer in the world, had lived below expectations due to a lack of infrastructure to process raw cocoa beans, most of which are exported abroad as raw materials.

He claimed that Nigeria, formerly the world’s leading cocoa producer, had slipped in the rankings due to government apathy caused by excessive reliance on crude oil.

Alamu further noted that even though Nigeria processes cocoa, the majority of the core products from the processing are exported.

He said, “What we earn as a country compared to what other countries earn is relatively small. This is because we export more raw cocoa rather than processed ones. Other countries have multinationals processing in their countries, thereby exporting finished goods and not raw materials.

“If you export the finished product, which is chocolate, you will get ten times the value compared to what you get when you export the raw bean. So, what we are earning is far behind the potential of what we are supposed to earn. Until we start planting more trees, until the body language of the government at the federal level starts tilting towards cocoa again, I think the status quo will not change.”

Alamu noted that potential investors had shied away from Nigeria’s cocoa industry due to a lack of incentives on the part of the Federal Government.

He identified several reasons for the dwindling interest in the cocoa trade, including subpar policymaking, operators’ loan accessibility issues, and the high cost of electricity.

He added, “Unlike rice, unlike maize and other crops, cocoa cultivation requires a lot of land area. The loan structure for cocoa has to be different because the newest variety could take a minimum of 18 months to start having some meaningful yield.

“This is very long compared to maize which takes 90 to 180 days, or cassava which takes one year. So, the government still has a lot to do in the areas of power, loans to farmers and other incentives, not just for the cocoa sector alone, but for the other value chain actors.”