"Recently, I've seen a lot of requests for the establishment of new plantations. We have also seen a lot of players coming into the international aspect of the cocoa industry in Nigeria in terms of trying to buy cocoa beans from the farmers and exporting them. There are a lot of industries, big companies that are now involved in the exportation of cocoa beans from Nigeria to several international destinations," the executive director says.
"This will be good for us, and it will also be good for the farmers. A situation where you have a kind of European Union regulation hanging on our neck and threatening the livelihood of 3 million farmers in Nigeria is not good. So this is an opportunity, and I believe Nigerians should grab and diversify where we export our cocoa beans to, and I'm sure the Russian Federation will not impose this kind of unfair regulation on cocoa producers in West Africa. So it is a case of an alternative market, which is good for the country," Dr. Adebola stresses.