REDUCING POVERTY
Nigerian cocoa beans are not valued in the international market because of their sub-par quality--due to poor farming and poor post-harvest practices. PIND partners with cocoa farm input companies, cocoa equipment dealers, cocoa equipment promoters, cocoa exporters/off-takers (buyers), and farm service providers (FSPs) to promote good agricultural practices, and help cocoa farmers improve the quality of their beans, increase productivity, and boost incomes. We also organize training projects and set up demonstration farms for innovations.
COCOA Summary of
Outcomes:
NGN 713.08 million/USD 1.73 million in funds leveraged from the public and private sectors by PIND into the cocoa value chain 12,053 cocoa farmers reached with information about best agricultural and business practices, quality input, and new NGN 1.97 billion/USD 4.8 million of increased income earned by 8,455 cocoa farmers technology 975 new cocoa value chain jobs facilitated
In 2021, we partnered with more farm input companies, equipment dealers, equipment promoters, exporters/offtakers (buyers), and FSPs to expand our outreach to more farmers in the five cocoa-producing states in the region: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Edo, and Ondo. Through these partnerships, we reached an additional 12,053 farmers with improved access to necessary agroinputs, information, and technologies. Out of the 12,053 farmers reached, 8,455 of them increased their incomes by NGN 1.97 billion/USD 4.8 million. Furthermore, a total of 975 jobs were created and these partners invested NGN 713.08 million/USD 1.73 million in the cocoa value chain.
To improve access to quality, high-yielding cocoa seedlings for farmers, we strengthened the connection between commercial nursery operators and seed producers in the reporting year. So, we partnered with the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) to train 31 nursery operators from Abia, Cross River, Edo, and Ondo States in seed handling and best nursery management practices. Subsequently, we supported 13 of these nursery operators in organizing awareness campaigns to improve the farmers' knowledge of the availability and benefits of planting quality seeds. These nursery operators then purchased quality, high-yielding seeds from CRIN—which they raised into seedlings in their nurseries for the following year.
To further encourage farmers to adopt good agricultural practices and produce quality cocoa beans, we launched an intervention in which farmers are offered premium prices for quality beans. In 2020, we partnered with an exporter in Ondo State to train 40 lead farmers on cocoa bean quality-improvement practices. Using the trainthe-trainer approach, these lead farmers then trained over 1,000 farmers. In 2021, we expanded this intervention by onboarding new exporters/off-takers (buyers) to reach over 2,000 more farmers in the region. 2021 ANNUAL REPORT
