Amid staggering revelation that Nigeria is losing over $2 billion yearly to the under-explored value chain opportunities within global cocoa industry, the farmers are currently smiling to the bank as price of the commodity has appreciated significantly at the international market.

WACOT Limited, a member of the Tropical General Investments (TGI) Group and Cocoasource, a Swiss commodity trading company, have entered into a strategic alliance to supply Rainforest Alliance Certified Cocoa to global bean processing companies and chocolate makers.

Less than a year into his first term, Governor Bassey Otu, is firmly but confidently steering the ship of Cross River State steadily to the coast of economic reawakening as could be gleaned from his recent inauguration of a multi-stakeholders committee to explore ways and means of bolstering palm oil, cocoa and coffee value chain in the state.

Nigeria is capable of achieving the vision of doubling its premium cocoa beans and overtakes Ivory Coast and Ghana before 2026 if the smallholder farmers can be supported by cocoa producing state governments to irrigate farms all-year-round across the country.

Yoruba Elites in Politics has advised President Bola Tinubu to prioritise the revolution of cocoa in his agenda for economic recovery.

As basic food commodities continue to rise and the country suffers from rapidly dwindling Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), stakeholders said all hope is not lost as some sectors of the industry still have massive growth, trade, and export potential to turn the economy around.

The Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) has applauded President Bola Tinubu’s decision to reinvigorate the National Commodity Board as part of efforts to support Federal Government’s food sufficiency strategy.