Cocoa farmers in Cross River State will receive about 10million cocoa seedlings for planting from the state government, Acting Chairman of Cross River Cocoa Board, Dr. Oscar Ofuka, has said.
Ofuka, who said this during a cocoa stakeholders’ meeting in Calabar, noted that the board was focusing on peasant farmers, widows, youths and the vulnerable as beneficiaries.
“With the improved varieties we have now, we have already raised 10 million cocoa seedlings and we are ready to distribute them to farmers whom we have allocated cocoa plots.
“We are going to make sure that we spread cocoa to the rural poor, those who really need succour.
“We have to send widows, students, youths and even those who had been involved in social vices like cultism back to the farm,” Ofuka said.
He said the measure was in line with the vision of the government to make cocoa the mainstay of the state economy and provide employment for all the citizens.
The chairman said that the board was raising seedlings across the state in order to feed the cocoa plant already installed by the state government to avoid waste.
“This is the era we have to get the raw materials to feed our industries because if we do not go into serious cocoa rehabilitation and regeneration, the industry will die and the vision of the government will be defeated,” he said.
The acting chairman said that the board would work with the State House of Assembly to enact a law to extend the period of plantation in government cocoa estates for sustainability.
Ofuka, however, acknowledged the grievances by some farmers but promised that the board and the relevant stakeholders were working towards peaceful resolutions of the issues.
He said that the board would form a committee to look into the cocoa plot allocations and ascertain the areas of conflicts with a view to making adjustments if need be.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Asu Okang, lauded the efforts of the board in ensuring equitable distribution of cocoa plots to farmers in the 2020 farming season.
“I am pleased that everyone was given the opportunity to vent his/his anger. In the past, there had always been complaints here and there.
“I do think Ofuka should be given thumps up for single-handedly handling the allocation to this point.
“This was unlike the previous allocation committee that was faced with problems, despite having many members on board,” he said.
Okang added that the establishment of the board by the present administration in the state had increased the number of beneficiaries of the cocoa project.
He said that cocoa remained one focus of the administration’s agricultural revolution, and stressed the need for every citizen of the state to own at least a farm.
