Cocoa Gift from the gods

….varied health and nutritional value

…huge foreign exchange earner

…massive job creator

Chidi Aja

Regarded as gift from the gods by the ancient people of Central America, the Maya and Aztecs, who believed it could impart immortality, cocoa or its products has been cited as a cure for almost everything from fatigue, indigestion, emaciation, and haemorrhoids to respiratory ailments, cancer, depression, and heart problems. While this amazing plant will not impart immortality to its consumer, however, if there was ever a food to do so, it would be cocoa. Throughout history, the cocoa plant has been used as currency, food, and medicine. In fact, the cocoa bean is still used as a form of currency in some areas of South America. The Aztecs revered cocoa because of its central role in their culture. They even believed the plant to have divine origins. As a result, its consumption was usually reserved for royalty, warriors, and other high society people.

Health benefits

Medicine Hunter Inc., an integrated enterprise dedicated to expanding the field of natural, plant-based medicines, describes cocoa as one of nature’s many miracles; the great super-food that many people seek. “Cocoa makes other so-called super-fruits pale in comparison. Cocoa is a titan of health benefits, the likes of which humanity has never known. It is the profound medicine that scientists and researchers toil to discover. If cocoa were a pharmaceutical drug, it would be hailed as the greatest medicine of all time, and its discoverer would reap the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Cocoa is all of that. Cocoa is right out in the open, more protective than any other food, and more powerful than any medicine ever devised.”

Once considered by some health experts to be deleterious to health, cocoa has proven over time to be extraordinarily beneficial for health. In fact, some say that after water, cocoa is the healthiest known substance that can be put into the body. They base their argument on the fact that no other substance of any kind helps to prevent primary killer diseases as well as cocoa. According to them, if cocoa were consumed judiciously and regularly, it would prove the single greatest life-saving medication of all time.

“But cocoa is a food, and this fact harks back to the proviso of Hippocrates, ‘Let food be thy medicine’. Not only is cocoa a food, but it is beloved around the world for its sumptuous flavour, and for the way it promotes a positive state of mind and mood,” Medicine Hunter Inc., noted.

Over the past dozen of years or so, a steady stream of studies have emerged, showing that cocoa and the confection made from it (chocolate) possess extraordinary life-imbuing and disease-fighting properties. It is said that the darker chocolate with the most concentrated cocoa is the most beneficial. Most notably, cocoa demonstrates significant benefits for the cardiovascular system, helping to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, reduce the risk of high blood pressure, and even reduce the risk of cancer. Furthermore, cocoa consumption is associated with reduced cognitive decline in old age.

According to an Italian study, a small square (20 g) of dark (bittersweet) chocolate every three days is the ideal dose for cardiovascular benefits.

In the study of 856 adults, Australian scientists found that those who ate 30-1080 mg of dark chocolate or cocoa per day—both of which are rich in antioxidants called flavonoids —had slightly lower blood pressure readings than those who didn't. This is probably due to the fact that flavanols boost the production of nitrous oxide in the body, which in turn causes blood vessel walls to relax and open.

Through randomised controlled trials, many researchers have demonstrated that habitual cocoa intake lowers blood pressure via its high arginine content and the nitric oxide pathway. “Lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke.”

Researchers at Georgetown University’s Department of Oncology reported that components of cocoa, notably the polyphenols could stop proliferation of breast, prostate and colon cancer cells while sparing normal cells.

Research has also shown that cocoa powder to help immune function, cognition, and detoxification. Cocoa can both upregulate specific immune cells and help modulate immune function. It appears to increase brain oxygenation which has beneficial implications for diseases like dementia. And finally, raw organic cocoa powder with its high fibre content has been shown to facilitate the excretion and detoxification of environmental contaminants from the body.

Nutrition value

The nutrition values of cocoa include:

Fat

Cocoa beans contain approximately 50 per cent fat. It is primarily comprised of two saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic acids) and one mono-unsaturated acid (oleic acid). Cocoa butter and chocolate do not raise blood cholesterol. However, when consuming milk chocolate or lower grade chocolate where a part of the total fat content comes from milk fat or various other types of fat, the cholesterol level might be adversely affected.

Sugar

The cocoa bean contains quite a lot of carbohydrates, but most of it is starch, soluble dietary fibres, and insoluble dietary fibres. A very small proportion is simple sugars. Sugar is added during the manufacture of chocolate.

Antioxidants

Cocoa beans contain polyphenols (similar to those found in wine) with antioxidant properties which are health beneficial. These compounds are called flavonoids and include catechins, epicatechins, and procyandins. The antioxidant flavinoids are found in the non-fat portions of the cocoa bean. The flavinoids also reduce the blood's ability to clot and thus reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks.

Theobromine

Theobromine is a very mild stimulant with a mild diuretic action (increases the production of urine). Theobromine can be toxic to animals like dogs, cats, parrots and horses.

Caffeine

Cocoa beans contain a very low amount of caffeine, much less than found in coffee, tea and cola drinks.

Phenylethylamine

Phenylethylamine is a slight antidepressant and stimulant similar to the body's own dopamine and adrenaline.

Serotonine

Cocoa and chocolate can increase the level of serotonine in the brain. Serotonine levels are often decreased in people with depression and in those experiencing PMS symptoms.

Essential minerals

Cocoa beans are rich in a number of essential minerals, including magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese.

Vitamins

A, B1, B2, B3, C, E and pantothenic acid.

Cocoa in Nigeria

Cocoa was introduced into Nigeria around 1874 by Squiss Ibaningo but production and export in large quantity began at about 1910. Cocoa is grown in 14 out of the 36 states of the federation, namely: Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo and Taraba. Cocoa is of paramount importance to Nigeria. Prior to independence and immediately after, the economy relied heavily on cocoa for foreign exchange. Millions of families earn their living by growing cocoa with an average area of between four and five hectares. Thus, as at 1965 Nigeria was the second largest cocoa producer in the world with an annual output of about 270,000 tonnes. In fact, the product was the mainstay of the economy of the then Western Region of Nigeria, with legacies of its economic relevance still visible till today.

 “Cocoa used to be the major revenue earner for the old Western Region of Nigeria just as palm oil and groundnut boosted the revenue profiles of the Eastern and Northern regions of the country respectively,” said National Coordinator, Golden Cocoa Producers of Nigeria, Tunde Arosanyin.

Oil influence

Regrettably, however, with the discovery and commercial exploitation of crude oil, emphasis shifted from cocoa, making the crop to account for less than 2 per cent of Nigeria’s export earnings.

Dimeji Owofemi, chairman, Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN) told ManufacturingToday that the scrapping of the Cocoa Board without an alternative structure to protect the value chain, especially the farmers led to the decline of cocoa production in Nigeria.

Oluwole Oginni agrees, lamenting that cocoa from Nigeria has gone through a period of decline in recent years, in terms of both quality and quantity.

Oginni, who is the chairman, Lagos State chapter of Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the leader of cocoa exporters in Nigeria, explained that under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the government was forced to dismantle the cocoa board in 1986.

According to him, the abrupt liberalisation led to chaos and reduced quality. “The structural adjustment policies liberalised the market, resulting in the abolition of commodity boards, the introduction of free market policies, and the fluctuation in local cocoa prices.

“Nigeria was the first African country to liberalise cocoa trade. Following the World Bank advice that agricultural marketing boards in the country were ineffective, and the suggestion to liberalise agriculture in line with the liberalisation of foreign exchange, the Nigerian government unilaterally abolished marketing boards.”

 In an effort to achieve increased cocoa production, successive governments have embarked on a number of initiatives toward increasing yields.

On assumption of office in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo sent the Cocoa Rebirth Bill to the National Assembly. Its promulgation into law led to the setting up of the National Cocoa Development Committee (NCDC) with the mandate to develop the produce through the provision of an enabling environment for its production, processing, packaging and export.

As the umbrella association of all cocoa stakeholders in Nigeria – including farmers, processors and the research agencies – the committee was also mandated to ensure uniformity in cocoa production.

That development gave rise to the National Cocoa Rebirth Day, a day set aside every year to bring cocoa to the front burner and emphasise its strategic importance to the transformation of the nation’s economy.

As a result, Nigeria’s production of cocoa increased from 170,000 tonnes in 1999 to over 700,000 tonnes before the government left office. The increase in output can be attributed to the setting up of the NCDC, made up of the 14 cocoa-producing states in the country, which distributed new high yield cocoa seedlings to cocoa farmers, along with the purchase of chemicals and inputs at 50 per cent subsidy.

Today, Nigeria with a current output of 300, 000 metric tonnes is the fourth leading exporter of cocoa in the world, after Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Ghana. But the present administration is not satisfied with the position and has therefore launched the Cocoa Transformation Agenda, aimed at transforming cocoa production in the country and becoming a leading exporter of the product in the world.

At a meeting with major stakeholders in cocoa production and the banking sector recently, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina, listed some of the key targets of the country’s Cocoa Transformation Agenda to include, a rapid doubling or tripling of current production from 300,000 metric tonnes within the next three years, to one million metric tonnes in the next five years, in order to increase Nigeria’s market share in the global market.

“The second target is the generation of employment through the creation of at least 365,000 jobs and an accelerated rural transformation through the provision of basic facilities in cocoa-growing communities.”

The minister, who admitted that it was a mistake to have disbanded the Cocoa Marketing Board, disclosed that government planned to establish the Cocoa Marketing and Trade Corporation, specifically to harness opportunities in cocoa production in the country.

Adesina assured that the new outfit would seek to redress the dwindling fortune of the cocoa industry in Nigeria with a view to boosting the nation’s production capacity annually.

Besides, he said, the newly created organ would work to improve cocoa farmers’ skills, while boosting the competitiveness of the commodity at the global market.

It also hopes to increase local processing, value addition and local consumption of cocoa products, as well as the establishment of a Cocoa Investment Fund to drive greater investment in all aspects of the cocoa value chain.

He stated that a strategic plan is already in place on how banks and financial institutions can provide support to the role players in the cocoa sector to drive an accelerated revolution within the framework of the transformation agenda.

“In addition, strategies are being mapped out to ensure appropriate pricing of cocoa products with a view to getting good returns on investments for cocoa farmers and entrepreneurs in Nigeria.”

Efforts by agencies

Other agencies are also contributing to the cocoa revival. One of such agencies is the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) which has developed a new variety of cocoa that can mature in just nine months with higher yields.
  According to Anna Muyiwa, head of the Department Crop Improvement, CRIN, the variety which passed all trial stages under observation, replaces the current variety which matures between 18 and 24 months.
Experts are of the view that with the ongoing research efforts involving genetic modification of cocoa varieties, many young people would be encouraged to go into cocoa farming.
  They contend that the genetically modified cocoa variety would address some of the existing challenges which have been hindering cocoa farming, resulting in the inefficient performance of Nigeria’s cocoa in the international market.
  Furthermore, the new cocoa variety would eliminate ageing cocoa trees and the replacement of old cocoa farmers.
 Muyiwa agrees, stating that the use of selected and improved cocoa varieties with desirable traits in terms of high yield as well as disease and pest resistance was cardinal to sustainable cocoa production.
  “Breeding of superior cocoa genotypes which are tolerant to cocoa swollen shoot virus, black pod disease and identification of major drought limitations will boost cocoa production.
  “Achievements in the area of agricultural biotechnology include determination of the genetic diversity of cocoa collection which shows that a large variety replacement has taken place in cocoa grown in commercial farms.
  “Two methods employed in cocoa biotechnology enhancement include tissue culture; somatic micro-propagation and use of microsatellite markers to study genetic diversity in cultivars (local varieties).
  “Ongoing is the use of temporary immersion bioreactor systems to scale up the production of plantlets and mass propagation of the newly released cocoa variety; the CRIN TC 1-8 hybrid genotypes.
  “There is no doubt that cocoa improvement in Nigeria has gone through the stages of selection, screening and evaluation of genotypes for economic traits,” she said.
  Muyiwa explained that other scientific approaches aimed at boosting cocoa production included grafting techniques, cocoa seedling raising, rejuvenation of old and moribund cocoa plantations and simple soil testing techniques.
  “These techniques are widely adopted by the farmers for the production of hybrid cocoa beans which attract high price in the world market.
  “It is expected that all these efforts will generate more than 365,000 jobs in the next four years to improve the livelihood and income level of more than 250,000 farm households,” she said.
 In the same vein, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, has expressed its intention to complement ongoing researches on evolving hybrid cocoa varieties and encourage more young farmers to go into cocoa cultivation.
  The institute said it would provide vital support for Nigeria’s cocoa transformation strategies to double cocoa production in the next few years.
 Specifically, the institute plans to help the country in the development of high-quality and clean planting materials, using improved breeding techniques.
  Explaining the importance of the IITA initiative, Lava Kumar, a virologist at IITA, stressed that only clean planting materials technology would help Nigeria to rapidly propagate improved cocoa seedlings that could be used by farmers to replace old and unproductive trees.
  “This is an important step towards cocoa transformation because we need to increase Nigeria’s cocoa yield; it is actually a game changer for the sector,” Kumar said.
  He said that Nigeria accounted for about five per cent of the world’s cocoa production, adding, however, that efforts to increase production were hampered by old and unproductive cocoa trees, poor infrastructure, pests, diseases, low farmer education and inadequate supply of farm inputs, among others.
 

Economic benefits

Besides foods, cocoa is also processed into other consumables such as soaps, creams and related cosmetics in huge commercial quantities. Other bye-products of cocoa include cocoa liquor (product of processed cocoa beans); cocoa butter and cocoa cake (further processing from cocoa liquor; cocoa powder (product from grinding cocoa cake). Indeed, cocoa has proved to be a major revenue earner for farmers and entrepreneurs in the food processing and manufacturing sectors of nations’ economies while the country earns about $580 million from export of cocoa products.

This therefore makes it imperative to tackle the challenges facing the industry in order for it to remain competitive for the benefit of the country.
According to Akin Olusuyi, former COPAN chairman, besides hugely contributing to the nation’s foreign exchange earnings, the cocoa industry promote manufacturing culture and improved technology.

On employment generation, Olusuyi says that each factory employs at least 200 people and provides up to 1,000 indirect jobs, adding that the industry boosts national growth by contributing about 27 per cent of foreign exchange earnings to non-oil export in 2007.
According to him, the multiplier effects of the sector on local industries stimulate local economies of host communities and states, as many of the existing cocoa processing factories are located in rural areas, adding that the industry also enhances local consumption of cocoa-based products and serve as the major supplier to manufacturing companies like Cadbury, Nestle, Promisador, Wamco, Fan Milk and other smaller beverage factories.
He stated that the processors also increase the technological know-how of factory workers through training and education programmes, as they set and maintain high good manufacturing practice standards in their factories, with some of the factories already certified as meeting the same standards as their European and American competitors, which further enhances the good reputation of Nigeria and its products in the world market.

Major players

There are 400,000 family units in the cocoa industry and about five million lives revolve around cocoa, including farmers, exporters, brokers, transporters, bankers and processors among others. It is a very big industry that deserves adequate concentration. Various growers’ agencies operate in the industry. They include the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN); Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN); and the Cocoa Growers Association of Nigeria (COGAN).

Owofemi explains that the major players include overseas buyers of Nigerian cocoa beans and cocoa products; exporters of cocoa bean; and butter and cake.

The overseas buyers according to him include: ADM Cocoa of America; Barry Callebaut of Switzerland; Cargill of America; Dutch Cocoa of Netherlands; Armajaro Trading Limited of London; Theobroma B.V of Netherlands; and Ecom Switzerland.

The cocoa beans exporters include: Agro Traders Limited; Olam Nigeria Limited; Armajaro Nigeria Limited; Yara Commodities Limited; Olatunde International Limited; International Traders Limited; Saro Agro Chemicals Limnited; and Bolawole Enterprises Limited.

Exporters of cocoa products (butter and cake) include: Tulip Cocoa Limited; Multi-Trex Integrated Foods Plc; FTN Cocoa Plc; Plantation Industries Limited; Ile-Oluji Cocoa Products Limited; Alfa Systems Limited; Stanmark Cocoa Limited; and Olam Nigeria Limited.

Challenges

Though the efforts of the federal and state governments at revitalising the sector is yielding benefits, nevertheless, the cocoa industry is faced with myriad problems which cannot be surmounted without the intervention of relevant agencies.

Owofemi acknowledges that farmers’ challenges are being addressed by the Cotton Transformation Agenda (CTA) but however, said that potential large scale investors still have difficulties in the acquisition of sizeable land from all state governments.
Similarly, the processors are faced with various challenges ranging from delays in the disbursement of the Export Expansion Grant; imposed duty on processed cocoa by the European Union-Economic Partnership Agreement; high interest rates; underutilisation of installed capacities, poor power supply and the lack of competitiveness of processed cocoa when compared with raw cocoa in the export market.

Way forward

Some industrialists have tasked the federal government to come up with incentives aimed at improving the agricultural processing sector in Nigeria.

In respect of cocoa, COPAN said there was need for government to stop paying lip-service to issues concerning the agricultural processing industry, pointing out that the cocoa industry was not getting the necessary attention from the federal government, which had caused untold hardship to operators in the industry.

To Olusuyi the Export Expansion Grant (EEG), which is the principal incentive from the federal government to cocoa processors, must be revisited and made to work as was originally intended.
“EEG as is being implemented cannot fulfil the purpose for which it was created. It is supposed to promote export and exporting industries. No agriculture-based company can survive if people are incentivised to export the raw materials the company needs to produce.

“If you encourage people to export raw materials from Nigeria to more technologically advanced and infrastructurally-developed countries that do not want Nigeria to rise to the point where they add value to their raw produce, then it is double jeopardy,” Olusuyi adeclared.

Owofemi noted that the cocoa industry is walking on the same lane as the oil sector, where crude was exported in its raw form, refined abroad and later sold to the country at very expensive rates, warning that the government should not allow same fate to befall the industry.

Owofemi said incentives in form of EEG to all exporters of raw agricultural commodities like cocoa beans without processing to value-added products should be avoided.

“We hope that government will listen to our pleas this time and that our expectations would receive much need attention in order to fast-track the transformation of the cocoa subsector as a major diversification and employment advancement of the Nigerian economy towards the desired growth-led path,” he said.

Furthermore, stakeholders note that several efforts at processing cocoa beans in the past have been frustrated. They recall that one of the erstwhile foremost cocoa processing factories in Nigeria, said to be the first in Africa, Cocoa Industries Limited, Ikeja, Lagos, has since stopped production, with the facility now turned into a warehouse for imported goods and motor vehicles. According to them, when the firm was at its peak, it employed about 19,000 people.

“Presently, there are about 17 cocoa processing companies in Nigeria. Of the 17, only nine are functional and out of the nine, only two are owned by foreigners. The irony, however, is that up to 90 per cent of the high-level exporters of raw Cocoa from Nigeria, are foreigners.

“Nigerians who are in the business cannot in any way compete with these foreigners because the foreigners get bank facilities at about six per cent from banks in their home countries while Nigerians who are in the same business with them painstakingly obtain similar loans at about 22 per cent interest rate. Obviously, they do not enjoy a level playing field, yet get the same reprieve from exporting cocoa.

“The way out for the economy is for government to stop subsidising export of raw cocoa. Rather, efforts should be made to encourage the processing of the produce. Government must do everything possible to encourage value addition through increased support for industries that are into processing and encouragement of contract processing. This will enable those who cannot afford to set up their own industry to hire and use available capacity in already established firms.

“By processing, jobs will be created for the teeming unemployed youths in the country and the nation’s economy will grow. Government should also devise a strategy to ensure increased local consumption and take advantage of the large population of Nigeria. Deliberate efforts must be made to support cocoa processors because they are the heart of the cocoa industry. The more we allow the processors to die, the more Nigeria’s economy will continue to be at the whims and caprices of foreign investors who are already at a vantage point, but whose loyalty to the Nigerian dream has never been ascertained.

“By all means, cocoa processors and indeed processors of any other agricultural produce should be given tax relief at the early stage of their production. The Central Bank of Nigeria should also initiate policies that will make it easier for the processors to attract local funding for their factories. This will go a long way in helping to boost their efforts,” they maintained.