Cross River State Governor, Professor\u00a0 Ben Ayade, has expressed
\nsatisfaction with ongoing work at the 30000 tonnes per annum cocoa
\nprocessing plant in Ikom.
\nAyade, who was visibly excited by the delivery of equipment for the plant,
\nsaid the factory will soon be ready for commissioning.
\n“I am really impressed. As you can see, intellectual money is on display
\nhere. From what I have seen, the contractors deserve excellent pats on the
\nback. This is what we call commitment and consistency,” the governor
\nremarked.
\nHe said the plant has the capacity to process cocoa beans to chocolate bars.
\n“Again, we are going to be the first in Africa as this is the first cocoa
\nprocessing plant that will process cocoa beans to chocolate,” he stated.
\nHe said with the delivery of the equipment, his vision for cocoa revolution
\nin the state is crystalizing.
\nThe governor, who said he knew from the first day he was sworn in, what he
\nneeded to do to enhance the economic well-being of the people, said the
\nplant will bring about value-chain addition to cocoa, which will ultimately
\nenrich cocoa farmers in the state.
\n“This is the spirit of intellectual money and Cross River ultimately will
\nbe proud that I knew where I was going from the beginning. I am following
\nan agenda that at the end of my eight years in office, when every single
\ncitizen of the state remembers my days, he or she will say this young man
\nhad a great vision.
\n“For all the years gone by Cross River has been producing cocoa for other
\nstates to bear the name because we did not have an off-take mechanism, we
\ndid not have a programme by government to buy off the cocoa at good rates.
\nSo, outsiders used to come in and buy the cocoa from us and grade it as
\ncocoa from their own state.”
\nThe plant, which will soon be operational, now offers cocoa farmers in the
\nstate “the opportunity, platform and industry to process their own cocoa,
\ngiving a premium value for money. A cocoa house is going to be built here.
\nOnce you have a cocoa farm, you just come here, collect money during
\nharvest, we take your cocoa, so you have money for the product and you
\ndon’t have to go to bank to get a loan.”
\nAyade therefore, urged the people of the central senatorial district to see
\nthe cocoa processing plant as their own baby by ensuring no harm comes to
\nit.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cross River State Governor, Professor\u00a0 Ben Ayade, has expressed satisfaction with ongoing work at the 30000 tonnes per annum cocoa processing plant in Ikom. Ayade, who was visibly excited by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n