Export of cocoa and cocoa products - The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, has said Nigeria realised about N140.4 billion ($900 million) from the export of cocoa and cocoa products in 2012.
Aganga, who dropped the hint at the recent National Sensitisation Workshop of the Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Standards (SPS) Capacity Building in Abuja, said the country's cocoa export had grown over the years by an average of 40 per cent annually and a cumulative of 280 per cent from $215 million in 2006 to $822.8 million in 2010.
He said the current administration considered the industry very critical to the success of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan and the Transformation Agenda. "The strategic importance of cocoa to our national economy needs not be over-emphasised," he said.
According to him, "Nigeria is the world fourth largest producer and exporter of cocoa. Paradoxically, over 90 per cent of cocoa produced is exported." Aganga said the non-conformity by cocoa producing countries to the regulations under the SPS will foreclose access to the lucrative markets and the consequence "on cocoa farmers and the national economy will be disastrous".
This Day/11/03/2013