EU deforestation policy endangers Nigeria’s $770m cocoa industry — Farmers

Cocoa farmers on Saturday raised concerns over the European Union’s plans to implement its deforestation regulation plan in December 2024.

In an open letter appealing to the EU Commission for a postponement of the European Union Deforestation Regulation, the National President of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, Comrade Adeola Adegoke, stated that the nation’s $770 million cocoa industry would be at risk if urgent steps are not taken to resolve sustainability issues like deforestation and traceability.

According to him, Nigeria’s cocoa could be at risk if the federal government does not take the necessary legal steps to halt and remediate deforestation and develop strategies for addressing forest loss in cocoa communities through collective action.

The farmers, however, assured the EU that steps are being taken to comply with best practices.

“We have embarked on advocacy and capacity training for our cocoa farmers in the areas of ecosystem protection, focusing on the production of deforestation-free cocoa and the protection of the rights of our labourers and children.

“These training sessions were conducted in partnership with other stakeholders across the cocoa-producing communities, tagged: Cocoa Farmers Roundtable Conference,” the statement read.

“CFAN also organised the first privately driven and publicly enabled Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Award to find workable solutions to the issues affecting the cocoa industry. The Summit extensively brainstormed on the EUDR’s forthcoming implementation, living income differential, national cocoa plan, inadequate local cocoa processing, value addition and consumption, and the need for Nigeria to have a cocoa regulatory framework that will drive the industry, rather than relying on an ineffective system,,” the letter added.

The EUDR is a regulation that prohibits products from entering the EU market unless they are deforestation-free and legally produced. The Regulation applies to wood, palm oil, soy, coffee, cocoa, rubber, and cattle, as well as most of their derivatives. Under cocoa, it applies to beans, products, and chocolate.

The regulation entered into force on June 29, 2023, with an 18-month preparation period expiring on December 30, 2024, when it will fully come into effect.

However, in the open letter addressed to Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture, the cocoa farmers have requested the implementation deadline be postponed to December 2025 to enable better preparation by the smallholder cocoa farmers, who have been hampered by a lack of adequate information on the EUDR at their farm gate level.

“Our appeal is based on the imminent negative impact on the livelihoods of cocoa farmers if the current date is not extended by one year,” the letter read.

In the letter, they noted further that Nigeria is one of the world’s major cocoa-producing countries, contributing about 6.5 per cent to global cocoa production and accounting for 29 per cent of total agricultural exports in 2023, valued at N1.24 trillion, with an estimated value of N356.16 billion.

“This makes it imperative for the EU Commission to reconsider the need for the postponement of the EUDR by one year to enable better preparations.

“Compliance with the EUDR might push our cocoa farmers into greater poverty if the time frame is not adjusted,” they stressed.