FACAN tells Ayade to suspend regulation on cocoa, other commodities

FACAN, the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria, called on Cross River State Governor Prof Ben Ayade on Monday to suspend proposed regulations affecting cocoa farmers and others.

In response to Ayade’s move, FACAN President Dr Victor Iyama stated that the regulations violate the rights of farmers in the state and that the Governor should discontinue his regulation on cocoa and other agricultural produce.

In an interview, Iyama criticized the regulation, which is part of an Executive Order Bill initiated by Ayade, saying it is anti-farmers’ productivity and could demoralize them by depriving them of the forces of demand and supply in the cocoa market.

He went on to say that the government’s actions were economically detrimental to agricultural development in the state.

“Going down the path of not allowing farmers to sell to buyers of their choice is like resurrecting the woes of Cocoa Board years of policy suffering of price exploitation, which was the reason former President Ibrahim Babagida abolished the Board for open market economy over 36 years ago,” he said.

“We are using this opportunity to urge the APC chairman to persuade Governor Ayade to drop his pursuit of this law, which is already receiving attention in the state Assembly.” We, the FACAN and the Cocoa Association of Nigeria, were opposed to the proposed law.

“The new law will not benefit farmers in any way, but will instead create unemployment for their children who have already been involved in the value chains of cocoa productivity and other agricultural produce, as importers and other stakeholders in the value of all of these crops will also be rendered jobless.”

According to him, such regressive policy is capable of displacing farmers, their children, and 36 local buyers, merchants, and importers as a result of the proposed bill’s goal of making it illegal for farmers and others on the cocoa value chain and others to sell agricultural produce outside Cross River State, preferring to sell directly and alone to the government-owned company, limiting farmers’ ability to sell to other customers of their choice.

He alluded to Ghanaian cocoa farmers who have been muzzled and caged by the Cocoa Board system, saying that such a situation should not be tolerated in Nigeria.