Abia State Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, says Abia State cocoa farmers will be given the enabling environment to improve cocoa production in the state.
He declared that anyone caught smuggling cocoa from Abia to neighboring states would have the produce seized, and the vehicle used in the illegal trade impounded.
Emetu, who doubles as the Chairman of the Abia State Cocoa Transformation Committee, stated this in his office at Government House, Umuahia, on Wednesday during the committee's meeting.
He highlighted that the state government will play an intermediary role to ease the suffering of cocoa farmers by making the grading price of the produce on par with other cocoa-producing states in Nigeria.
The Abia Deputy Governor said that the measure would check the smuggling of the produce away from Abia to neighboring states, stating that such illegal trade shortchanges Abia's cocoa status in the country.
He urged all stakeholders in the cocoa business to remain responsible by paying their taxes appropriately to the government and informed the farmers that the Agbaozu Cocoa Farm Estate in Bende LGA had been recovered from an individual investor.
Speaking earlier, the Chairmen of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) and the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), John Kalu and J.C. Uche, while thanking Governor Otti for his support to their members, appealed to the Abia State government to provide herbicides and improved seedlings for them.
