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LAGOS – The doldrums of inactivity, industrial unrest and dwindling research activities foisted on the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), by a number of factors over one decade ago is now a thing of the past.
CRIN is a national institute with research mandate on Cocoa, Kola, Coffee, Cashew and Tea. The Institute has six substations located in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria where these crops are cultivated in abundance.
Before now various administrations of the institute have been distracted by internal industrial unrests, agitations amid dwindling research culture and poor funding and this as in no small measure reflects on the cocoa productivity in the country.
However, indications have shown that internal industrial crises and de-motivation have been overcome as the new administration has adopted some collaborative strategies in the last two years. Hence, industry stakeholders expressed optimism that this would affect the value chain positively.
Dr. Patrick Adebola, Executive Director of the Institute while speaking with newsmen during a visit to the institute stated that the gates of the institute are continually opened for collaborations towards the empowerment of various stakeholders and nation building.
He said CRIN has collaborated with more stakeholders in the last two years on skill acquisition, extension workshops for stakeholders on best practices and knowledge transfer, especially on grafting, fermentation, drying platforms, packaging and farm maintenance, among others.
These according to him are expected to impact on quality and quantity of cocoa produced in Nigeria and minimise rejection in the global market.
“As crude oil economy gradually becomes unsustainable for the country, cocoa is one of the crops being promoted by the government to diversify the economy.
“This necessitates CRIN’s collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on skill acquisition, technology development and transfer to farmers and other stakeholders.
Adebola also stated that the institute has partnered with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Ibadan Export Assistance Office, to train farmers to produce cashew juice at Yaku Village, in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, stressing that most farmers were only interested in the sale cashew nuts, while the cashew apples got wasted.
“Over 70 participants from Ogbomoso, Saki, Kisi and some other cashew-producing local government areas in the state were encouraged to go into mass processing of cashew apples into juice.
Also, a workshop on cocoa, in collaboration with the South-South Region of NEPC, was organised for farmers and extension workers in Bayelsa State, in Yenagoa and 50 participants were trained.
On international collaboration, the CRIN Executive Director noted that CRIN and German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria (DGIC) have also partnered on cashew education and training project following the establishment of the dual vocational education system, an approach which offers an excellent skills development in Germany education system, which seeks to provide a platform for stakeholders to strengthen market for vocational education and training (VET) in Nigeria.
He said the endorsements opened discussions between DGIC and CRIN to achieve the objective of the organisation for cashew value chain development in pilot states in Nigeria.
As part of its corporate social responsibility in human capital development, he said 15 students on internship with the CRIN were trained on the production techniques of cashew milk last September.
The training according to him was anchored by the Value Addition Research Department with Mokwunye Chukwuma, Assistant Head, Processing Division of the Department.
“Apart from that, the institute organised training on chocolate and soap production with cocoa pod husks for interns to transform wastes to wealth and empower the youth.
“To revive old plantations and establish new ones, CRIN, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), has distributed more than 300,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings,’ he said.
Adebola expressed optimism that CRIN would meet the target of yearly distributing 500,000 seedlings to accelerate cocoa production and that his efforts are centred on human capital development as a means of helping the institute to realise its core research mandate.
He noted that CRIN and Agro-processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support Project (APPEALS), a World-Bank assisted project, has also partnered towards the actualization of the project, a capacity building on “Good Agricultural Practices for Sustainable Cashew Production in Kogi State,” organised for cashew farmers by the coordinating office of APPEALS project, Kogi State, in Kogi East, Central and West Senatorial districts last year.
According to him, a total of 568 cashew farmers, including youths and women, drawn from 11 clusters across eight local government areas of the state benefitted.
On tackling industrial crises, he said it was a great task of rebuilding and repositioning the institute considering the deep-seated animosity and stagnation that embroiled the system following unpaid debts, moribund infrastructure, withheld funds and aggrieved staff whose morale was on the lowest ebb.
It was gathered that part of the frequent industrial disharmony in CRIN before now was delayed promotion.
However, the institute conducted a promotion interview for the senior staff in February this year and 142 staff across all designations were involved, while that of the promotion examination for the junior cadre was done in May this year.
Alhaji Abdulahi Jao, who led the Board of the Institute admitted that because members of staff were getting their promotions as and when due now, industrial harmony had been restored. Promotion and other arrears owed by the past administrations were being paid.
“As well, payment of overdue staff entitlements, including resettlement allowances, first 28 days of staff transferred to substations where there are no staff quarters, repatriation allowances (year 2013 to 2020), deceased staff arrears (2013 to date), training arrears (year 2013 to 2020) and unpaid vouchers (year 2017 to 2020) to the tune of N26,191,459.27 have been approved,” he said.
“Before I assumed office, there were crises in CRIN, and it was known for labour unrest. This reduced the gains of previous administrations. But since I came in, with the help of the CRIN Board Chairman, Alhaji Abdulahi Jao, and members, I have been able to unite stakeholders and bring stability to CRIN.
“ In terms of labour, the present management has been able to work hand-in-hand with all the three in-house labour unions and I think I have won their support,” Adebola explained.
Speaking further he said sources of internal revenue have been revived that the apiculture unit of CRIN has yielded fruits as honey is being harvested from the fully colonised hives.
Adebola said the plantations at the zones provided the enabling environment for the deployment of the hives and that the unit was coordinated by Dr. Olufemi Ibiremo, Director Cashew.
He said that the production of CRIN sachet water began again last year June after it stopped for more than a year, but Adebola promised that he would do all he could to revive the factory.
The bakery unit, again, commenced production in June this year as Adebola equipped the bakery with modern facilities and ensured that production commenced, managed on Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach with the Institute’s Cooperative Investment and Credit Society (CI&CS).
Adebola explained that one of the major items in his agenda is to revive the culture of research, which had been de-emphasised as a result of crises and poor funding.
“Now, research activities have started coming up. We are able to do that through change in leadership positions and reorganisation of various programmes, and re-appointments of capable and knowledgeable leaders for research programmes,” he said.
The management has also facilitated a World Cocoa Foundation/African Cocoa Initiative Phase II (WCF/ACI II) sponsored third Flavour Quality Laboratory (FQL) at CRIN.
The grant according to him was to support the hosting country (institution) by supplying the equipment and fund the training and activities of the laboratory for two years, while the host will provide adequate laboratory space.
A visit by journalists to the institute revealed that there were ongoing structural transformations in the institute which cut across road construction, laboratory, conference hall, electrification, training centre, perimeter fencing, furniture and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), among others.
Ibiremo, the programme leader, Cashew Programme said that the interactions of CRIN with NEPC has also yielded a N50 million grant, stating that NEPC offered the grant to support the production of cash crops, particularly cocoa and cashew.
He said that the institute embarked on capacity building of the stakeholders at Ogbomoso and Kabba in Kogi State and that the other component of the grant is the establishment of a polyclonal seed garden, and CRIN successfully procured two hectares of land at Ilero (Oyo State) and Kabba College of Agriculture (Kogi State) for the purpose and that about 1600 grafted seedlings of cashew were used.
Seyi Taiwo-Oguntuase is a visionary writer. She Writes on business and agricultural related issues among several other issues of national interest. She likes travelling and impacting on people who comes across her.
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