Cocoa farmers celebrate N26m in premium payment from Olam Nigeria

Cocoa farmers from across Ondo State have celebrated three successful years of farming that have netted them nearly N26 million in premium payment from Olam Nigeria.

The farmers, who are all members of Ore Agbe Akure – a 3,000 strong farmer group set up by Olam in 2011, to improve farmers’ livelihood, made this known recently when they converged on Onisere in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

According to a release from Olam, working closely with the group, through corporate responsibility, its sustainability team has delivered farm management training and through GPS mapped 5,000 hectares of farmland for them.

By so doing, it had equipped Nigerian cocoa farmers with accurate information about the size of their farms. The release added that the company distributed higher yielding planting materials and successfully prepared the farmers for Rainforest Alliance audits in 2012 and 2013, which made the N26 million premium payment possible.

Speaking at the occasion, Peter Aikpokpodion from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, urged the Ore Agbe Akure farmers to “seize the opportunity” given to them by Olam to improve themselves and their farms.

On her part, Jennifer Abuah, corporate responsibility and sustainability manager, Olam Nigeria, who was also at the occasion, commended all the farmers for their hard work, pledging Olam’s commitment to “maximising the potential of both men and women cocoa farmers for the sustained growth of the Nigerian cocoa sector.”

Olam is a leading global integrated supply chain manager and processor of agricultural products and food ingredients. Agricultural products processed by Olam include cocoa, cashew, sesame and cotton.

Remi Feyisipo