4th Aug 2014 Look out Cote D Ivoire; Ondo State in Nigeria has announced that it is getting ready to begin a cocoa revolution with the production of chocolate with a 70% cocoa content. State commissioner for information, Kayode Akinmade revealed that State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko would soon present a Cocoa Revolution Bill to state legislators. The Bill we’re told, will help farmers reap the fruit of their labour, as it concerns cocoa production. We’re assured that cocoa produced will be of international standard and we have been asked to look forward to increased revenue and a new avenue of employment from this new agricultural direction.
Now all this chocolatey focus didn’t come out of thin air; Ondo State spent some time teaching their farmers how to improve their fermentation processes to produce a better quality of chocolate. In May this year, a US based chocolate firm announced that the quality of chocolate produced in Ondo State was of very high quality, with a flavour comparable to South American cocoa beans.
In addition, the Federal Produce Inspection Service, had announced the distribution of hybrid cocoa seeds, developed by the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria. The seeds take 2 – 3 years to mature, as opposed to 5 years by regular seeds.
All this work is towards the Federal Government target to double cocoa output from 250,000 tonnes per season to 500,000.
So guys…what do you think? Do you see Nigerian cocoa ever getting to the level of Swiss Chocolate? Would you pick Nigerian over Swiss chocolate? What’s your opinion of the whole thing? Let us know on our platforms, remember to use the hashtag #Say It!