The Niger Delta Partnership Initiative Fund (PIND) has developed a five-year plan to revitalize cocoa production by rejuvenating existing plantations in the country to increase foreign exchange earnings.

The Executive Director of the Fund, Dara Akala, at a meeting of cocoa stakeholders in Akura, said that efforts were being made to identify areas in the sub-sector, and was optimistic that the initiative would reduce poverty in the Niger Delta.

Akala showed that research and a systematic analysis of economic opportunities in the Niger Delta proved that the value chains of palm oil, cassava and cocoa, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, provide significant growth potential in the agricultural sector.

“In January 2018, PIND commissioned a value chain study for the cocoa industry in the Niger Delta, which was completed in March 2018.

The main goal of the study was to study the competitiveness of the region's cocoa sector, while identifying gaps and areas that would require intervention to ensure sustainability and effective communication with the global cocoa market, ”said the Executive Director of the Fund.

He also lamented that Nigeria took the seventh place in the world and the fourth place in Africa after countries such as Ghana, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire, although these countries have smaller agricultural land.

Dara Akala also noted that Nigeria’s cocoa industry is more than 140 years old, the first export of 20 tons of cocoa offshore was made in 1890.