Farmers want cocoa tea in school feeding programme

The Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to include cocoa tea in the Home Grown School Feeding Programme across the country.

The association said the cocoa tea had numerous health benefits that were good for health and growth of school pupils.

The National Chairman of the CFAN, Mr Adeola Adegoke, made the call at the inauguration of the new national executive officers of the association in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Friday.

Adegoke said, “Cocoa tea is rich in polyphenols, which can reduce inflammation, better blood flow, lower blood pressure and regulate the cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

“It will be better if the FG can include it in the Home Grown School Feeding Programme for our school children.”

He stated further that the association was ready to partner the government and other stakeholders to bring back Nigeria to first position among the cocoa producing countries in the world.

In his remarks, the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, urged the new executive members of CFAN to put measures in place to ensure that cocoa farming became more attractive to youths.

Represented by the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Gboyega Adefarati, the governor said the state government was tackling some challenges confronting farmers in the production of quality cocoa seeds.

According to him, some of the challenges included old age of farmers and farms, urbanisation, price fluctuation, old varieties of cocoa and poor road network, among others.

He said, “This administration will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that your requests are given priority attention. As I speak, work is in progress in more than 60km feeder roads linking the various farm camps and villages to enable our farmers move their produce without hitch.

“It is equally worthwhile to mention that this administration has embarked on free distribution of cocoa seedlings to the farmers for their new planting and rehabilitation programmes in the current year.”

A former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, in his own speech, urged the government to ensure that cocoa farmers make more profit on their product after spending a lot on the production of cocoa.

“Our responsibility is to add value to cocoa sector and make it more profitable. The monetary value accrued to farmers is usually less than six per cent. The farmers are in bondage in terms of gain as they cannot determine the price of cocoa produced by them,” Mimiko said.