Cocoa: Nigeria's cash crop

Nigeria is the fourth-largest cocoa producer in the world, behind Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Ecuador. The South-West is its cocoa country: Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ekiti are the region's cocoa states, and about two-thirds of the country's cocoa farmers live here.

From pod to bag

Cocoa grows as pods on the trunk and branches of the tree. After the harvest, the beans inside go through fermentation and drying.

1. The ripe pods are harvested and split open, and the wet beans are taken out by hand.
2. The beans are heaped or boxed together to ferment. This is where the chocolate flavour and colour begin to develop.
3. The fermented beans are dried slowly, from about 60 percent moisture down to about 7.5 percent.
4. The dry beans are bagged for delivery.

Beans dried too quickly never finish the work fermentation started, and they end up acidic and bitter.

Two crops a year

West Africa's cocoa comes in two harvests. The main crop runs from October to March, and a lighter mid-crop from April to September.

Who sets the price

Nigeria's cocoa pricing is liberalised, with no administered price, so what a farmer is paid follows the world market, and that market swings hard: prices reached a record in December 2024 after poor harvests across West Africa, and by February 2026 they had fallen by nearly half.

Why this is cooperative workMarket access is one of the cooperative's three pillars: reaching buyers together, so a member commands the price and the reach of a far larger operation.

And the rest of the South-West's crops

Cassava. Nigeria is the largest cassava producer in the world. It tolerates poor soil and drought better than the grains, stores in the ground for months after it matures, and is usually eaten in processed forms such as gari; it is also a raw material for flour and starch. Women play a central role in its production, processing and marketing.

Maize. Nigeria's maize has two planting seasons. In the forest zone the early crop goes in between mid-March and the start of April, as soon as the rains are steady. A late crop, planted in the first half of August, is recommended only where the rain is likely to be adequate.

Rice. Most of Nigeria's rice grows on rain-fed land: about half of its rice area is lowland fed by the rains, and nearly a third is upland farms, with a smaller share irrigated.

Oil palm. One fruit, two oils: palm oil from the pulp and palm kernel oil from the nut. How both are made is its own post.

Poultry. Eggs and birds for the family's table and for sale, and maize among the grains the birds are fed on: poultry raises both the household's income and its food.

Written by Women in Agric Business Farmers Cooperatives.