Cross Rivers Govt commences transplant of 10m improved cocoa seedlings
TO GO W/ AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY David YOUANT Workers cut cocoa in the southwestern Ivorian village of Godilehiri 01 November 2007 near Divo where cocoa and coffee plantation farmers are upset with suspected misappropriation of cocoa revenue or money laundering. Ivory Coast is the world's leading producer of cocoa, which along with coffee accounts for 40 percent of the country's exports and about 20 percent of gross domestic product. A June report by Global Witness charged that cocoa helped finance low-level armed conflict that has left Ivory Coast divided in two for five years between a government-held south and a rebel north since a foiled coup bid in 2002. AFP PHOTO / ISSOUF SANOGO (Photo credit should read ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)
As a measure to boost cocoa production in the state, Cross River Government has commenced transplant of 10 million cocoa seedlings in the government-owned cocoa estates across the state.
Deputy Governor of the state, Prof. Ivara Esu who flagged off the exercise at Abia in Bendeghe community of Etung Local Government Area of the state, said the transplant was part of efforts by the state government to revamp the moribund cocoa estates across the state for optimum utilisation.
He said the government had taken giant strides aimed at boosting cocoa production in the state.
He maintained that the state government placed priority on cocoa production, adding that the state would soon begin to export it.
“It is our hope that revamping of the estates will increase the Gross Domestic Product, GDP of the state,” Esu said.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Cocoa Development and Control, Dr Oscar Ofuka, disclosed that the government’s target was to produce 500,000 tonnes of cocoa per annum.
Ofuka said the plan had become imperative so as to feed the ultra-modern cocoa processing factory at Ikom, which would soon be inaugurated.
He revealed that the state was the second-largest producer of cocoa in Nigeria, adding that it was poised to overtaking Ondo State as the leading cocoa producing state in the country.
“We have the potential and the capacity to becoming the cocoa hub of Africa by surpassing Cote D’Ivoire, which is the leading cocoa exporting country in Africa,” he said.
Oscar said that the transplant of improved cocoa seedlings was long overdue since the present cocoa plantations were established by late Dr Micheal Okpara’s administration in the 1960s.
The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Eteng Jonah, commended government for taking the state to a higher level in cocoa production.
He promised that the lawmakers would always support the efforts of the government to recreate the economy of the state, especially in view of the dwindling allocation from the federation account.
The Deputy Governor, the speaker, as well as other dignitaries, later planted cocoa seedlings as a mark of solidarity for the project.