Cocoa farmers in Ondo State have appealed to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to suspend and review the recently announced ₦250,000-per-hectare levy imposed on farmers operating in the state’s forest reserves, warning that the policy could cripple livelihoods and threaten the state’s position as Nigeria’s leading cocoa producer.
In an open letter made available to PUNCH Online on Wednesday, the National President, Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, Adeola Adegoke, said the new directive demanding a total of ₦250,000 per hectare from farmers operating in the state has thrown thousands of cocoa farmers into distress.
In recent months, the state government introduced a new policy requiring all farmers operating within forest reserves to pay ₦250,000 per hectare, consisting of a ₦100,000 fee for a five-year permit and ₦150,000 for polygon mapping.
Authorities say the measure is aimed at improving forest management, regulating land use, and ensuring compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation, an international framework that seeks to guarantee that exported agricultural products, including cocoa, are deforestation-free and traceable to their source.
This policy, as it stands, threatens the very existence of smallholder cocoa farmers who have sustained cocoa farming for decades.
“These are men and women who rise before dawn, walk deep into the forests, and work with bare hands to nurture the commodity that has placed Ondo State on the global agricultural map and also provides livelihoods for generations. Many of them are aged.
“Some are widows who rely on small farms left by their late husbands. Some are youths struggling to find dignity in agriculture instead of idleness. For them, ₦250,000 is not a mere administrative fee; it is a mountain too high to climb.
Your Excellency, since the announcement of this policy, fear and frustration have spread among our members. Some farmers have begun to abandon their farms, unable to see a future in cocoa production. Many are in tears, wondering if the same government that once celebrated them now sees them as strangers in their own state.
“This directive is not only unsustainable, it is unjust. It widens the gap between smallholder farmers and large investors. While small farmers are asked to pay ₦250,000 per hectare for only five years, big investors with large hectares enjoy long-term permits of several decades at far cheaper rates,” Adegoke said.
Adegoke, who doubles as the Global President of the Cocoa Farmers Alliance Association of Africa, warned that if the policy continues as it is, it will not only cripple smallholder cocoa farmers’ income but it could also lead to low productivity, insecurity, and resistance toward EUDR implementation itself.
“Cocoa farmers may see sustainability as oppression rather than collaboration. It is to be noted that Ondo State produces about 90,000 metric tonnes of cocoa annually, nearly one-third of Nigeria’s total output.
“This achievement is not the work of government alone, but of countless smallholder cocoa farmers who have persevered in the face of hardship, bad roads, poor access to finance, climate change, insecurity, high cost of inputs, and fluctuating market prices,” he added.
