Tinubu Urges Africa to End Raw Cocoa Exports
President Bola Tinubu has called on African countries to end their long-standing dependence on exporting raw cocoa beans and focus on value addition to increase earnings from the global chocolate industry.
Tinubu made the call on Tuesday at the Africa Cocoa Summit in Abuja, themed ‘From Bean to Brand,’ where stakeholders discussed strategies for strengthening Africa’s position in the global cocoa value chain.
Represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, the president said Africa produced about 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa but retained only a small fraction of the industry’s value.
“We gathered in Abuja today not to lament that arithmetic. We gathered to end it.”
