Unless
young Nigerians are quickly made to develop interest in cocoa cultivation, the
future of the cash crop is bleak, a cross section of farmers has said.
A number of old cocoa farmers, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
on Monday in Ibadan, said that the crop could go into extinction if young and
able-bodied Nigerians were unwilling to take over its cultivation.
"We farmers are getting old and the youth are not interested in the cultivation
of the crop. This has being our predicament," said Josiah Olayiwola, Chairman
Ogo-Oluwa Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN).
"We hardly have our young ones getting involved in cocoa farming. Once they are
through with their primary or secondary education, they head for towns and
cities in search of fast money,'' he said.
Also speaking with NAN, Olajire Babalola, a farmer, said that cocoa's long
gestation period had made it unattractive for the youth as they see its
cultivation as a waste of time and energy.
"Most youths are not used to hard labour, all they want is to make fast money
and buy big cars. We want them to have genuine interest in cocoa farming.
"It is disheartening that those of them (youth) who even studied agricultural
sciences are not also showing interest in farming, as all they are
interested in is how to make quick money," he said.
Gabriel Kehinde, Project Manager, Oyo State Tree Crops Development Unit, urged
the government to encourage youths to go into farming by allocating more funds
to the agriculture sector.
Mr. Kehinde said that although government was doing its best to improve the
sector, more farm hands were needed to boost cocoa production.
He said that at present, Oyo State had 4,800 registered cocoa farmers.