Economist Tope Fasua explores Nigeria’s remarkable cocoa boom in 2024, with export earnings leaping from $800 million in 2023 to $2.8 billion—equivalent to roughly ₦4.2 trillion—largely driven by private farmers amid drought in Côte d’Ivoire .
Fasua recounts a revealing conversation with a Bolt driver from Ondo State: formerly disconnected from farming, the driver’s family had rented out their cocoa farm, missing out on the recent spike in income—where a 100-kg bag of cocoa sold for about ₦1.4 million . Many professionals have returned to their ancestral farms, reaping significant profits.
However, decades ago, strong cocoa boards in the South‑West aggregated farmer proceeds and offered insurance, but disbandment in the 1980s left producers vulnerable. Recently, the Tinubu-led government has revived the Cocoa Board, potentially rejuvenating rural economies across the South‑West and Cross River .
Fasua warns that without economic nationalism and reinvestment, much of this windfall may flow abroad. He urges a cultural shift: abandon the idea that farming equates to poverty, leverage Nigeria’s vast agricultural potential—from cocoa to cashew, shea, ginger, onions—and reinvigorate rural wealth creation .
