Nigeria’s cocoa sector recorded a strong boost in 2025 as Sunbeth Global Concepts exported about 52,000 tonnes of cocoa, signalling rapid growth in one of the country’s most important agricultural value chains.
The company’s chief executive, Mr Olasunkanmi Owoyemi, described the milestone as a reflection of sustained expansion over the years, noting how the business has scaled far beyond its early beginnings.
“Last year, we did around 52,000 tonnes of cocoa export out of Nigeria. And I mean that I remember when I started this business, when I bought 200 tonnes, I felt as though we are doing something great,” he said.
He added that reaching over 50,000 tonnes within eight years highlights both internal growth and the increasing contribution of stakeholders across the cocoa value chain.
“But within eight years of doing over 50,000 tonnes in cocoa alone showed how much we’ve grown, how much people we’ve brought in, how much people have been able to contribute to our progress,” Owoyemi stated.
The development underscores renewed momentum in Nigeria’s cocoa industry, especially as global demand for cocoa continues to rise. Industry players are expanding exports while attempting to position the country as a stronger force in agricultural trade.
Despite this progress, key structural challenges remain. Owoyemi pointed to low participation in the productive sector as a major concern, stressing the difficulty of attracting people back into agriculture.
“One of the major challenges of operating in Nigeria’s agricultural sector is getting people to move back to the productive sector,” he said.
He explained that addressing this gap requires a coordinated approach involving financing, logistics, education, and technology support for farmers and producers.
“For us as a business, our vision is to empower the origin producers of food ingredients with the financing structure, logistics, markets, and education and technology. It’s a massive challenge and needs a massive scale of financing, massive scale of research, and technology.”
Beyond participation, soil health and farmer knowledge remain pressing issues affecting productivity. According to the Operations Manager of Rural Farmers Hub, Nanshal Silas, many farmers struggle to understand soil conditions, limiting their output.
“Most times, farmers have a very big challenge. And this challenge is not far from their inability to understand what is happening in the soil,” Silas said.
He noted that without proper knowledge of soil composition and treatment, farmers are unable to maximise yields or profits.
“First of all, for a farmer to grow crops and to maximise profit, he or she must have in-depth knowledge,” he added.
Efforts to address this gap are ongoing through agri-tech interventions. An extensionist at Rural Farmers Hub, Aishatu Shuaibu, explained how soil testing and data-driven guidance are helping farmers improve productivity.
“I get to search for local farmers within communities. Then I take their soil coordinates. After taking the soil coordinates to know what they need in their soils, I guide them on what to apply, the fertiliser that is needed and the major procedure that is supposed to be taken for them to have a bountiful harvest,” she said.
However, experts say that technology adoption remains slow, limiting the overall impact of such initiatives. Dr Andrew Iloh, an Agricultural Biotechnologist at Sheda Science and Technology Complex, highlighted the challenge of integrating innovation into everyday farming practices.
“One of the biggest challenges for every kind of technology is adaptation. Not just bringing the technology, but every other thing needs to work hand in hand so that agricultural productivity in Nigeria can be improved,” he said.
While export volumes continue to rise, stakeholders maintain that overcoming funding gaps, improving farmer education, and accelerating technology adoption are critical to sustaining growth across Nigeria’s cocoa sector.
