Description

Providing employment for a large section of the population, agriculture remains a major source of economic activity in Nigeria. Nigeria produced 242 000 tonnes of cocoa in 2008. The National Cocoa Development Committee (NCDC), made up of the 14 cocoa producing states in the country, has distributed new high yield cocoa seedlings to cocoa farmers, and continues to allow the purchase of chemicals and inputs at 50% subsidy.

Cocoa ( Theobroma cacao L. ) is a native of Amazon region of South America. The bulk of it is produced in the tropical areas of the African continent. There are over 20 species in the genus but the cocoa tree Theobroma cacao is the only one cultivated widely.

Cocoa is the second major non-oil foreign exchange earner in Nigeria after leather. It is produced in fourteen {14} states of the federation namely Ondo, Cross River, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ogun, Edo, Kogi, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Abia, Kwara, Ebonyi and Rivers with an annual production rate of 240,000 metric tons {MT}
Over 98% of the product is exported and it’s provides means of livelihood and employment to over five million {5,000,000} people.

In the year 2005 alone, export revenue from the sales of cocoa amounted to US $ 136.7 Million with Netherland, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, USA and Japan being the major export destination. Other emerging markets include China and India.

Between 1962 and 1968, Nigeria’s major foreign exchange earner was the agricultural sector. However, even though trade was liberalized during this period, agricultural exports declined and the sector did not benefit from the relaxed trade environment. Thus the kind of liberalization at that time (which favoured import substitution and consumption of foreign made goods), reduced the threat that an expanding agricultural exports sector may have had on the environment.

Nigeria realized $882,812,813 from the exportation of Cocoa and cocoa products in 2010, as against $662,295,907 realized in 2009.

Nigeria is third largest cocoa grower in Africa and producing about 400,000 MT of the commodity.

This report seeks to examine the financial viability or otherwise of establishing cocoa processing plant in Nigeria which involves the sourcing of raw cocoa seed and processing same to yield cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and alkalized cocoa powder with fat percentage 10-12% after pressing in the cocoa cake.

The project entails the treatment of the cocoa beans, separating the shells from the nibs, roasting the cocoa nibs, pre-grinding to liquor, fine grinding, pressing, butter filtration / packaging and the cake crushing.

The offered plant consists of the equipment mentioned in following sections cocoa beans treatment section, Cocoa liquor grinding section, Liquor blocking section, Cocoa pressing, Butter filter section, Butter filtering and blocking section, cake handling section, Pulverizing section.

The plant size is laid out for 96 T/d based on working in 3 shifts of 8 hours, though the plant would operate at 90% of the installed capacity working 300 day per annum adopting the alkalization process.

The products cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and alkalized cocoa powder would be packaged in kraft paper carton with inner polyethylene liner of 25 kg {Net} per carton.

Demand for cocoa and it’s bye products is predicted to rise by 30% to more than 4.5 million tonnes by 2020.