President Bola Tinubu has declared that Nigeria must move away from exporting raw cocoa beans and focus on processing the commodity locally to capture more value from the global chocolate market.

The president, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, stated this on Tuesday at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 in Abuja.

The summit, themed “From Bean to Brand: The Bean in My Hand, The Brand in Our Future,” brought together government officials, cocoa-producing countries, investors, development partners, and industry stakeholders to discuss strategies for expanding cocoa processing and manufacturing across Africa.

President Tinubu said Nigeria could no longer rely on exporting raw agricultural commodities while other countries generated most of the profits from processing, branding and manufacturing finished products.

“Nigeria will no longer export raw beans while importing finished value. We will grind our beans at home, we will press our butter at home, we will make our chocolate at home, brand it at home, and sell it to the world on our own terms,” he said.

He said more than 300,000 Nigerian farming households cultivate cocoa on over 1.4 million hectares, making Nigeria one of the world’s leading cocoa producers with about six to seven per cent of global output.

According to him, cocoa generated more than N3 trillion in export earnings during the recent surge in global prices, but exporting raw beans meant Nigeria captured only a fraction of the industry’s economic value.

The president cited ongoing investments in local processing, including a 70,000-metric-tonne cocoa processing facility under construction in Sagamu, Ogun State, and said Nigeria’s annual cocoa grinding capacity has exceeded 120,000 metric tonnes.

Industrial policy

The Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh, said the initiative aligns with Nigeria’s industrial policy, which seeks to reduce dependence on raw commodity exports and expand domestic manufacturing.

“We are not interested in exporting anonymous sacks anymore. We are interested in exporting value. If Nigeria truly wants to build a one-trillion-dollar economy, it cannot continue exporting raw materials while other countries earn the real wealth from processing and branding them,” he said.

Mr Enoh also disclosed that Nigeria is working with Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon to establish an African cocoa alliance aimed at strengthening the continent’s bargaining power in the global cocoa market.

According to him, the proposed alliance would coordinate policies on cocoa processing, value addition and trade among countries that account for the bulk of global cocoa production.

BOI pledges financing

The Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BOI), Olasupo Olusi, said the bank is prepared to provide long-term financing to support investments across the cocoa value chain.

He disclosed that the bank disbursed more than N164 billion to over 3,500 agro-processing and food businesses in 2025 and recently secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank to support cocoa processing projects.

“Our goal is to finance everything from nurseries and cooperatives to grinding plants, ingredient factories, packaging lines and chocolate manufacturers,” Mr Olusi said.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Ransford Abbey, called for closer cooperation among Africa’s leading cocoa-producing countries, noting that although the continent produces between 75 and 77 per cent of the world’s cocoa, it earns less than 10 per cent of the value generated by the global chocolate industry.

“We do not need charity. We deserve equity. The time has come for Africa to process its own wealth, protect its farmers and negotiate with one voice in the global cocoa market,” he said.

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The renewed push for local processing comes as Nigeria seeks to diversify export earnings away from crude oil and increase the contribution of agriculture to industrial growth. Although Africa produces about 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa, most of the value from chocolate manufacturing is captured in Europe and North America, where beans are processed into butter, powder and finished confectionery products.

For years, industry stakeholders have argued that expanding domestic processing would create jobs, increase foreign exchange earnings and strengthen Nigeria’s position in global agricultural value chains. Recent investments in cocoa processing facilities and financing initiatives are part of broader efforts to shift the country from exporting raw commodities to exporting higher-value manufactured products.

The summit ended with the adoption of the Cocoa Value Addition Accord and a proposed Abuja Declaration aimed at accelerating domestic cocoa processing, attracting investment, improving farmers’ incomes and deepening collaboration among Africa’s major cocoa-producing countries.

Realta Fusion has spent the last two years looking for somewhere to build its research and development facility. In the end, it decided the old Oscar Meyer factory in Madison, Wisconsin.

“From sausages to fusion,” Kieran Furlong, co-founder and CEO of Realta Fusion, told TechCrunch with a chuckle. The new center, called Forge, will create its first plasma in 2029, he said. Realta recently showed that it could convert energy from fusion reactions directly into electricity, potentially easing the path to a commercial power plant.

The Oscar Meyer site’s ample power was attractive, as was its proximity to Realta’s existing headquarters in Madison. But what ultimately pushed the startup to stay was bipartisan support from the state’s government, including the governor and the legislature.

“Wisconsin really decided they want to throw their weight behind fusion,” Furlong said.

For the state, the timing could be fortuitous. Fusion power has been on an upswing as demand for electricity surges on the back of economy-wide electrification and proliferating AI data centers. This year alone, fusion power startups have raised over $1.5 billion.

Realta Fusion will receive estimated $55 million in incentives from the state of Wisconsin and the city of Madison. The startup also has deep roots in the city, having been spun out of an experiment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. And the university graduates a number of talented plasma physicists annually, providing a deep pool of talent. Shine, another fusion company, is located in a nearby suburb.

Realta’s decision to stay in Wisconsin is also surprising given that most fusion startups have located themselves near a national laboratory or on one of the coasts. Another Wisconsin-grown fusion startup, Type One Energy, decamped to Tennessee in 2024.

Since then, Wisconsin has embraced fusion power. Republicans and Democrats supported a sales tax exemption for the fusion industry, which was signed into law in April. That one measure alone will save Realta an estimated $37.5 million, a significant chunk of the total $55 million package. The state is kicking in another $15 million in enterprise zone tax credits, while the city of Madison has offered $2.8 million in tax increment financing.

While other states might have pitched similar amounts, Furlong said that there were other, intangible benefits to remaining in Wisconsin.

“It’s also advantageous to be the state champion,” he said. “We get the attention of people who matter, who can help us, who want to see Realta succeed and want to see Wisconsin be a major hub for fusion.”