THE Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Yola Zonal Controller Alhaji Muhammed Yusuf, has disclosed that the council had trained 82 Cocoa farmers on the use of chemicals, preservation and exportation of cocoa in Adamawa at a one-day training organised for Cocoa farmers in Toungo Local Government Area of the state.
Yusuf said the workshop was organised to boost the capacity of the farmers as well as to increase their productivity and income generation. Also to enable the farmers learn Integrated Pesticide Management (IPM), Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and Good Warehousing Practice (GWP).
Yusuf who disclosed that cocoa production in third world countries faces serious threat from some of the agro chemicals used by the farmers, reiterated that the European Union had banned the importation of some agricultural commodities from Nigeria, majorly due to the misuse of chemicals for preservation.
Giving Cote D’ Voire’s Cocoa as an example which was rejected in the international markets as a result of the presence of toxins (poisonous substances) from the agro chemicals used on the cocoa farms, Yusuf said to avoid similar problem for cocoa farmers in Nigeria the council considered it necessary to organise such workshop in the state being one of the cocoa producing states.
The Yola zonal NEPC Controller said that one of the objectives of the workshop was to train major cocoa farmers in the state, who would later train others.
The National Cocoa Gold Farmers Association, chairman, Rev. Benjamin Gurama, in his remarks, said the training would solve problems being encountered by the farmers, which was for several years completely neglected without any agricultural incentive and market outlet from state and federal government. Gurama was glad with seminar, saying “But with this development, the council has restored our confidence.”