Nigeria's push to grow its own coconuts

Business Daily

BBC

Business

4.4 • 816 Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2022

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Most of Nigeria has the perfect climate for growing coconuts and yet it imports 70% of the fruit, which is widely used to make snacks, drinks and to make everything from oil to cosmetics.

With demand for coconuts increasing both domestically and around the world, plans are now afoot to make Nigeria self-sufficient in coconut production.

Ijeoma Ndukwe travels to a farm two-hours from the Nigerian capital Abuja to see how Ray Davies and her husband, retired army Major General John Davies, have branched out into coconut farming.

We also hear from Nma Okoroji, president of the National Coconut Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (Nacoppman) - they support farmers and are encouraging more people to go into coconut production.

Farmers are struggling to access the best seeds for production - Abiodun Oyelekan, who runs a two-and-a-half-hectare farm in Badagry, explains the importance of 'hybrid' seeds.

Lagos state government's Coconut Development Authority (Lascoda) general manager Dapo Olakulehin talks about the challenge of helping the coconut sector to boost productivity and to become more commercial.

And Ebun Feludu - the founder of JAM The Coconut Food Company, which makes premium products from the fruit explains why she believes basic infrastructure must be improved.

Presenter/producer: Ijeoma Ndukwe

(Image: Ebun Feludu. Credit: BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up, y'all?
0:00.9	I'm Renee Montgomery, and my podcast Untold Legends
0:03.9	Aura is available now.
0:06.5	I'm looking back on the life of one of the most extraordinary black female sports stars
0:11.4	of the 20th century, whose name has been all but forgotten.
0:16.0	Ora Washington.
0:17.9	Stay listening at the end of this podcast to find out more.
0:25.1	Thank you. Washington. Stay listening at the end of this podcast to find out more. Most of Nigeria has the perfect climate for growing coconuts, and yet it imports 70% of the fruit,
0:32.2	which is widely used to make snacks, drinks, and everything from oil to cosmetics.
0:37.2	With demand for coconuts increasing domestically and around the world,
0:41.8	the Nigerian government has launched a major planting drive.
0:48.6	I'm Ijoma Undukwe and today on Business Daily,
0:52.3	we're going to explore why Nigeria doesn't produce enough
0:55.7	coconuts to meet its domestic needs. Most of the coconuts used for processing, they are imported
1:02.8	because those who make coconut flour, those who make coconut oil, coconut flakes, coconut chips,
1:10.6	they don't have enough.
1:12.2	We'll look at why coconut farmers struggle to boost production
1:15.5	and whether government plans to become an export of coconuts will prove fruitful.
1:20.8	Our plan is to produce more than what we need at home for sufficiency
1:26.7	in order to also get into the international market.
1:33.8	We'll begin with my visit to a farm in the north central state of Nazarawa.
1:39.2	To paint the scene, I was looking out at 150 hectares of land with rocky hills surrounding it in the distance.
	...

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