The Federal Government has partnered with state executives, agricultural research bodies, and private sector investors to launch a comprehensive 10-year national coffee revival plan during an inaugural summit at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) in Ibadan, Oyo State.
This aggressive cross-sectoral intervention has been executed because of a deeply negative trade balance that has seen Nigeria importing approximately $3.48 million in processed coffee annually while exporting less than $200,000 in raw domestic beans.
By swearing in the Nigeria Coffee Revival Initiative Steering Committee now, policymakers have established an institutional framework across 14 producing states to substitute cheap beverage imports with premium, locally roasted varieties.
The multi-state coalition bridges actors from Ondo, Cross River, Plateau, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Edo, Abia, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Taraba, and Delta States. Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, the Oyo State Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) Coordinator, Engineer Adetunji, categorised the revival plan as a key pillar of national economic diversification.
The Minister insisted that true profitability rests heavily on domestic processing. He also noted that while global demand for speciality and organic blends is currently surging, Nigeria’s internal output remains hindered by aged trees, underinvestment, and a lack of structured marketing channels.
“Revitalising Nigeria’s coffee industry is a strategic imperative for sustainable economic growth, export development and climate resilience,” the minister stated, adding, “We must incentivise local roasting, processing, and branding. Let the world drink coffee that is grown, processed, and packaged in Nigeria.”
Kyari further maintained that investing in Arabica and Robusta value chains would generate millions of jobs for youth as modern agronomists and for women in post-harvest processing centres.
Providing the core scientific foundation for the decade-long initiative, CRIN confirmed that it will supervise seedling deployment and intensive farmer field schools.
The Acting Executive Director of the institute, Dr A.R. Adedeji, emphasised that supplying high-yield, climate-smart varieties is central to restoring regional farm productivity. This technical drive is reinforced by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), which has pledged to assist growers in obtaining international product certifications and tracing tech to ease access into European and North American markets.
Lamenting decades of systemic institutional neglect, the Global President of the Cocoa and Coffee Farmers Alliance Association of Africa, Comrade Adeola Adegoke, noted that Nigeria remains one of the few global producers operating without a dedicated national coffee policy.
He revealed that large domestic beverage firms are currently forced to import green coffee from Côte d’Ivoire and neighbouring countries because of local supply deficits.
Adegoke concluded that the new steering committee is specifically engineered to halt this financial drain, giving smallholders an authentic voice and a direct, secure pathway from local farms to international commodities markets.
Source: Punch News
