Cocoa farmers to launch GAP training book, target 500,000mt in two year

Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), the launch of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), training book for the smallholder cocoa farmers as part of efforts to improve cocoa production in the country.

This is even as the association said it targets to push the country’s cocoa production from the current 250,000 metric tons to 500,000 metric tons in the next two years with the best and finest cocoa premium quality in the world.

National President of CFAN, Comrade Adeola Adegoke, stated this on Tuesday at the launch of the Association’s office in Abuja, saying it is working to ensure that the country would surpass the production capacity of both Ivory Coast and Ghana in the next five years.

Adegoke said this will be done through a sustainable cocoa production to grow the nation’s foreign exchange earnings and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) respectively, CFAN said.

Adegoke said activities to be performed to increase the production capacity will be the launch of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), training book for the smallholder cocoa farmers among others.

He stated that the association would set up a task force on monitoring and enforcement to ensure small holder farmers follow the required standard outline in the GAP book.

“This will be done particularly on the safe use and application of pesticide, child labour free, prevention of deforestation, putting traceability in place, having sustainable ecosystem and good quality cocoa in general”, he added.