CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background information
Agricultural activities constitute the mainstay of a large proportion of African population. In Nigeria, agriculture has remained the largest sector of the economy. It generates employment for about 70% of Nigeria’s population and contributes about 40% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with crops accounting for 80%, livestock 13%, forestry 3% and fishery 4% (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2006). The tree crop sub-sector, of which cocoa is a major component is very important in African agriculture and contributes significantly to the income of farmers. It plays a critical role in sustaining biodiversity, sound management of natural resources and provides additional pathways for the diversification and intensification of food crop systems. The relevance of cocoa to most developing economies cannot be overemphasized as cocoa is produced by more than fifty developing countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, all of which are in tropical or semi-tropical areas (Ogunleye and Oladeji, 2007).
Cocoa is an important crop to the economies of some countries such as Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana and Cameroon in West Africa. It is generally believed that cocoa cultivation in Nigeria started about 1879, when a local chief established a plantation at Bonny in Cross River State, Nigeria. However, cultivation in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, began afterwards in 1892 (Amos, 2007). Cocoa was one of major foreign exchange earners in Nigeria before the discovery of crude oil in 1957. This accounted for a greater part of the foreign exchange generated for the country between the 1950s and 70s. It is a source of employment to millions of people, from farmers to processors, licensed buying agents (LBA), ware housing agents and brokers. It is estimated that over 50% of the foreign exchange derived in Nigeria comes from cocoa alone. In the 1950s, 80% of the foreign exchange generated in the country was from cocoa. The trend however changed in the 1980s when there was a sharp decline in production, resulting in decreased foreign exchange generation {Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), 2007}.
The production of this important cash crop for export has suffered a reduction and unstable production in recent years in the country (Table 1) owing to a number of factors. According to FGN (2007), the decline in production could be attributed to the following causes: advent of the petroleum sector which led to the neglect of agriculture; policies and activities of the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board (NCMB) of 1978-1986; non-availability and high cost of cocoa production inputs; activities of middlemen; over-aged and low yielding trees; non-remunerative prices; non- availability of farm labour; old agronomic practices; poor nutrient status of cultivated land; and lack of credit to cocoa farmers.
According to Daramola (2004), the most cocoa farms in Ondo and Osun States are very old with low productivity, while farms in Cross River State are relatively younger and mostly in productive phase. In addition, Oduwole (2004) identified ageing cocoa farms as one of the factors responsible for the decline in cocoa production in south western Nigeria. He observed that many farms were over 40 years old and such farms constituted as much as 60% of the cocoa farms in Nigeria. Other factors that have contributed to the decline in cocoa production included, the problem of pests and diseases, use of poor planting materials, defective methods of harvesting and poor handling of post harvest processes and inefficient agricultural extension services (Fanaye, Adeyemi and Olaiya, 2003; Idowu in Ogunleye and Oladeji, 2007).