NBCC blames poor quality of Nigerian cocoa on exporters

Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce, NBCC, has blamed the bad image of Nigerian Cocoa in the world market, on activities of the get rich quick exporters.

Speaking at the launch of the Ondo Kingdom Chamber of Commerce, OKCC, the President of NBCC, Prince Yemi Adefulu, said, when the Marketing Boards were scrapped, standardisation and quality control was thrown out of the window, the reputation of the Nigerian Cocoa suffered from the activities of the get rich quick exporters and the country has not recovered from the reputation damage arising from this misdemeanor.

”Nigeria earned a reputation for poor quality from which we suffer to this day. Prices of Nigerian cocoa crashed and farmers became discouraged and lost the incentive to plant new cocoa seedlings or expand existing plantations.

In consequence, many abandoned the

farms causing Sunny Ade to sing- “No farmers on the farm, they have returned home”.

We are probably now the 10th producer of cocoa in the world. It is, however, not only farmers and cocoa merchants who suffered thereby. The local economy which was buoyant in the days of the cocoa boom became dislocated.

Traders, transporters, labourers, the local government, the state and the nation all suffered in the process. But the greatest loss of all was the reputation damage,” he lamented.

According to him, had there been an effective Chamber of Commerce in Ondo, such a calamity could have been avoided. Every major step which changed history was by appropriate and timely  response to a challenge.

”It could have fought the abandonment of standards and if the government did not listen,  it could have created and established an Ondo Standards, which if well protected and projected, could have become a recognised global standard of quality. There are chambers of commerce which issue export documentations and help to authenticate standards.

It is all part of being the watch-dog of the concerns and interests of the business community and reaching to government at the highest levels and affecting trade policy development” he stated.

Today, he said, properly managed, Ondo should be exporting cocoa butter, cocoa creams, chocolates and other cocoa based products from cottage industries.

It should also be exporting chipboards, veneers, plywood, not to talk of excellent wood based furniture to many parts of the world.

Businessday