In its resolve to improve agriculture in the state as well as cocoa production, the Ekiti State government took a gallant step by procuring 90,000 seedling for farmers as the planting season commenced.
Aside from procuring the 90,000 seedlings, the state government went further by slashing the sale of such seedlings, requesting the farmers at the cocoa nurseries in Ikere-Ekiti to purchase it at a reduced rate of N5 per seedling.
The Ekiti State Commissioner for Agriculture, Chief Boboye Olanipekun while making this declaration to farmers in Ekitit said "the move was to encourage our farmers to have a renowned interest in the production of cocoa which cultivation is gradually declining."
According to Chief Olanipekun, "it (was) a step forward to ensure that Ekiti State continues to emerge as one of the highest producers of cocoa in the country". He, however, assured that the government would continue to provide incentives to enhance the production of coca, which has been abandoned by the young ones to the old.
While lamenting the rate at which agriculture has been abandoned by the young at heart who now run after white collar jobs, the commissioner submitted that "this is an unfortunate development as most of the youths having more vigour to aggressively cultivate cocoa plantation are now shying away from the system".
Furthermore, he stated that "with the appreciation in the price of cocoa, youths and young adults have begun to realise that coca farmers are bound to be prosperous".
While revealing plans by the state government to increase cocoa seedlings by one million for distribution to farmers at the rate of N5 by next year, Olanipekun urged farmers not to be dissuaded from developing their cocoa plantation by way of expanding as well as planting. He assured that occasional fluctuations in prices of cocoa would be resolved.
He then noted that "efforts are in top gear at various level to process cocoa, locally in the production of beverages and with this, we will no longer rely solely on foreign buyers before we can sell cocoa to earn profit".
The commissioner explained that cocoa production was the main occupation of the farmers in the forest belt of the state noting that if the system was well managed and developed, it could satisfactorily offer jobs to over 70 per cent of the youths in the state.
Said he: "So, that is why the state government is now taking the production of cocoa serious because besides being an avenue for employment generation, it is still one of the major sources of internal revenue for the state government. Cocoa can still perform the role it played in the Western Region in the 1950s and 1960s and even 70s when it was the main source of revenue for the government to finance its free health and education programmes as well as the establishment of companies under the Oodua Group of companies".
In its own way to boost the morale of cocoa farmers in Ekiti State, Olanipekun pointed out that the state government had worked out modalities to sell farm implements and even chemicals for the maintenance of crops at cocoa producing councils. His words: "Cocoa nurseries will equally be established in virtually all cocoa-producing communities, as a way of making the seedling more accessible to farmers".
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries and also expressing gratitude, a cocoa farmer in Ado-Ekiti, Mr Gabriel Ogunleye, lauded the state government‘s efforts in encouraging farmers to produce more cocoa for the state urging that more local governments be introduced into the system.
According to him, "the seedling which they are sending to us is very good as it can begin to bear fruits after five years of planting. Besides, it is affordable at the rate of N5 per seedling. But I will like to advise that the government should send the seedling into more local government areas producing cocoa".
Ogunleye, however, pointed out that lack of labourers to recruit for the maintenance of cocoa plantations was the major problem facing cocoa farmers in the state. He explained that "most of the youths now feel shy or detest working on the farm. And some of them who claim to be cocoa farmers are not so, as they only specialise in marketing".
He further said that as a result of poor prices of cocoa beans in time past, most people are discouraged from having interest in cocoa cultivation especially since it requires intensive labour and time, as well as money to maintain such.
In this regard, Ogunleye urged that any impediment that could hamper regular increase in the annual price of cocoa be removed, adding that necessary chemicals for the maintenance of cocoa trees and pods should be made available by the government at affordable prices.
It should be noted that the price of cocoa now sells for N150 per kilogramme as against N200 at the beginning of the year and N190 last December.
In 2001, the selling price of 1kg of cocoa was between N150 and N200 and in 2000, the price of cocoa was between N100 and N120 and equally ranged between N90 and N100 in 1999. The increase in the price of cocoa in 2002 appeared to have encouraged the farmers to be aggressive in producing the crop in 2003.
In addition, the 2002 civil war in Cote d‘Ivoire, the largest cocoa producing country in Africa, resulted in the increase in the price of cocoa in the recent past.
Cote d‘Ivoire produces about 1.5 million tonnes of cocoa yearly while Ghana produces one million, Nigeria produces 500,000 tonnes annually. Again, with the present state of instability in Cote d’Ivoire, the price may again experience an appreciation but this would not be so sudden.
Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayo Fayose, Idowu Adelusi, maintained that the commitment of the incumbent to the improvement of the lives of the people through many means, one of which is agriculture, is unrivalled in the annals of governance in the state. According to him: His excellency, Governor Ayo Fayose is committed to improving the lot of the people of Ekiti State and if you recall, even before he became governor, he had been philanthropic. And now as governor, he is doing more. In the same vain, the Personal Assistant to the governor, Mr Kola Ajumobi, reiterated the state government‘s readiness to encourage production plans in order to establish a cocoa processing industry for the production of beverages.
