President Tinubu Unveils Plan to Revitalize Cocoa Value Chain, Boost Economy
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has unveiled an ambitious plan to transform Nigeria’s cocoa value chain through revitalized local processing, industrialization, and value addition to boost the economy.
The President, who was represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari stated this at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 with the theme “From Bean to Brand: The Bean in My Hand, The Brand in Our Future,” held in Abuja recently.
President Tinubu stated that the initiative would promote a sustainable cocoa economy and position the sector as a leading contributor to GDP through increased production and industrialization. He added that this would drive domestic consumption, farm gate prosperity, youth engagement, and increased foreign exchange earnings from the export of superior quality beans and products.
According to him, while Africa produces about 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa, the continent earns only a tiny fraction of the global chocolate industry because most processing, branding, and manufacturing take place overseas.
“Seven of every ten cocoa pods on this earth ripen under the African sun. They are grown by African hands on African soil with African knowledge passed down through generations, and yet of a global chocolate economy now valued at well over $130 billion and by some recent estimates approaching $165 billion,” the President stated.
He disclosed that the policy direction is clear: Nigeria will stop exporting raw beans and process at home to create jobs, attract investments, and earn more foreign exchange.
“We will grind our beans at home, we will press our butter at home, we will make our chocolate at home, brand it at home and sell it to the world on our own terms,” President Tinubu declared.
He pointed out that the commitment is already yielding results. “At Sagamu, Nigerian investors are building a 70,000-ton processing facility, the largest this nation has ever seen. Our national grinding capacity has crossed 120,000 tons a year, and it’s growing. The Bank of Industry stands ready as a co-convener of this summit, with capital prepared for deployment into bankable projects,” he said.
The President noted that more than 350,000 Nigerian farming families cultivate cocoa across over 1.4 million hectares, making the country one of the world’s leading producers with about six to seven per cent of global output. He added that cocoa generated more than N3 trillion in export earnings when global prices exceeded $10,000 per tonne, contributing almost a quarter of Nigeria’s non-oil exports.
He highlighted that the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on 1 July 2026 at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria in Ibadan, Oyo State, flagged off the One Million Improved Cocoa Seedlings Roll-Out Programme. The seedlings, bred by Nigerian scientists, are quicker to mature, higher in yield, resistant to disease, and adaptable to a changing climate, and are being distributed to farming families across cocoa-producing states.
“There has never been a moment when processing at origin made more commercial sense than it does today. Nigeria is not asking for charity. Nigeria is offering the best open position in the global food economy. We are open for business, and we are serious,” the President stressed.
“Take it to our farmers, the true owners of this crop. I make a promise, and I make it in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Value addition is not a project to be done around you. It is a covenant to be kept with you. For a century, the reward of this harvest has been far from the hands that raise it,” he concluded.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Owan Enoh, said the summit represented a major step in implementing President Tinubu’s Nigerian Industrial Policy, which seeks to increase domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on raw commodity exports.
He added that Nigeria’s ambition was no longer to celebrate the volume of cocoa exported but the value created before the commodity leaves the country.
