The Federal Government will showcase Nigeria’s one-million-hectare tree crops expansion programme to European cocoa industry leaders and investors in Brussels as the country seeks to attract investment into its cocoa and other agricultural value chains.
The presentation is scheduled for Thursday October 29 at the Nigeria/West Africa Cocoa Origins-EU Industry Match-Making Forum organised on the sidelines of the Nigeria-Belgium-Luxembourg Business Forum.
The initiative was announced in a joint statement issued in Abuja by the Agribusiness and Productivity Enhancement Project Management Office (AgPE PMO) under the Office of the Vice President and the EU-Nigeria Agribusiness Platform (EUNAP) managed by Agribusiness Register Limited.
The forum organised under an EU Global Gateway grant with support from the European Cocoa Association (ECA) will bring together European cocoa grinders chocolate manufacturers and traders with Nigerian and other West African exporters processors and cooperative federations.
Members of the ECA account for about 95 per cent of Europe’s cocoa grinding capacity.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness Dr Kingsley Uzoma through the AgPE PMO will deliver the keynote address and present the expansion programme to European stakeholders for the first time.
Cocoa is expected to account for a significant share of the proposed expansion with the government seeking to position Nigeria as a reliable and sustainable supplier to the European market.
The presentation comes ahead of the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for large and medium-sized operators on December 30 2026.
The government is expected to address concerns about where new plantations will be established how individual plots will be traced from the beginning and how agricultural expansion can be achieved without contributing to deforestation.
Nigeria currently has more than 350000 cocoa-farming families cultivating over 1.4 million hectares of land.
According to the statement the new programme aims to expand the country’s tree crop production base through deforestation-free and fully traceable cultivation while creating opportunities for European investors to participate through long-term offtake agreements co-investment in processing and partnerships between regions.
To strengthen coordination the AgPE PMO is engaging relevant federal ministries departments and agencies as well as cocoa-producing states ahead of the forum. The engagements are also expected to support the proposed region-to-region partnership framework.
Beyond the Brussels meeting the two organisations have agreed on terms of reference for sustained collaboration covering policy engagement mobilisation of grants and development resources and the commercialisation of cocoa and other agricultural value chains.
Speaking on the initiative Uzoma said Nigeria was offering European industry a structured expansion plan backed by traceability and responsible land use.
‘Nigeria is presenting European industry with a plan not a promise. The expansion of our tree crops will be planned mapped and traced from the first seedling so that every new hectare strengthens Nigeria’s standing as a responsible origin’ he said.
The founder and director of Agribusiness Register Limited and project director of EUNAP Roland Oroh said European buyers were looking for reliable supply consistency and verifiable evidence of sustainable production.
‘European industry has told us plainly what it needs from origin: scale consistency and proof’ Oroh said.
He added that Uzoma’s participation in the plenary session demonstrated the level of government commitment behind Nigeria’s engagement with European cocoa industry stakeholders.
The forum will feature pre-arranged business-to-business meetings investment and financing discussions and a region-to-region partnership track involving stakeholders from Nigeria Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
It will also showcase four Nigerian flagship projects through an Investment Wall designed to attract potential investors and commercial partners.
The event will be held in a hybrid format with virtual participation and deal-making facilitated through EUNAP’s online deal room.