Cocoa farmers have called on the federal government for the establishment of irrigation facilities across cluster cocoa farms in the country due to heat waves.
The farmers argued the move would boost cocoa production.
The newly-appointed Chairman of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Comrade Adeola Adegoke, who made the call at the inauguration ceremony of a new national executive committee at the Ade Super Hotel in Akure, said the irrigation process was important because of the danger posed by the present climate conditions, which he said was unfavourable to cocoa regeneration and sustainability.
Adegoke said the move would help to lift the country to the number one position in the comity of cocoa producing nations.
The new CFAN president, who took over the mantle of leadership from Alhaji Raimi Adeniji, who died recently, was the secretary of the association until his elevation.
Comrade Adegoke assured that CFAN, under his leadership, would collaborate with other cocoa stakeholders, the executive arm of government and other bodies to move the country forward in cocoa production.
He stressed that CFAN would also work towards the improvement, upliftment and fixing of deplorable infrastructure in cocoa villages and towns across the nation.
He promised cocoa farmers that their interest would be well protected, and they would be considered in the area of provision of subsidized inputs.
He commended the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, for the free distribution of 500,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings to farmers in the state.
Also, the immediate past governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, urged the federal government to continue to subsidize agricultural products and tools used by the farmers.
