The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food for Progress (FFPr): Traceability and Resilience in Agriculture and Cocoa Ecosystems of Nigeria (TRACE) Project; Nigeria’s training for Enumerators for Baseline Survey in Nigeria was carried out at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Ibadan. The rigorous training commenced on the 18th January, 2023 and ended on 21st January, 2023. The Executive Director, Dr. Patrick Adebola was ably represented by the Director Training, Dr. S.O. Agbeniyi. In his opening remarks, briefs on the genesis of the proposal and how Nigeria eventually won the Baseline Survey on TRACE Project, which is a partnership with USDA, CRIN and Lutheran World Relief was highlighted. The second stanza of the National Anthem was sung with a sense of patriotism as Nigerians and thankfulness to God for the project won by Nigeria in spite of many renowned international competitors. The ED representative emphasised strict adherence to timeliness as well as other enabling rules. The project is aimed at impact on People, Profit and Planet. The 5-year TRACE Project is USDA funded with CORUS International as main awardee and CRIN one of the four partners. The Director and Head of Cocoa Programme, Dr. A.R. Adedeji also buttressed the need for the success of the project as this will go a long way to impact Nigerian Cocoa Economy positively.
The scope of the project and survey process including sampling process was handled by Dr. M.O. Ogunlade, who is the Coordinator of the Baseline Survey Project. The scope (target areas, survey and sampling process) and objectives (mainly to improve production of cocoa through climate smart agriculture and expand cocoa economy and traceability of the cocoa produced) of the project were iterated. The impact of the project targets 68,453 farmers for direct impact and 337,515 indirect impact on Cooperatives, LBAs, Exporters, Financial institutions e.t.c. The sampling technique will include Multistage Stratified Sampling, Purposeful and Random Sampling. Six cocoa producing states (Ondo – 21 communities or locations, Cross River – 15 communities or locations, Osun- 12 communities or locations, Ekiti – 6 communities or locations, Abia – 3 communities or locations and Akwa Ibom – 2 communities or locations) will be sampled based on the last Cocoa Survey Data. Structured Questionnaires programmed into ODK (Open Data Kit) will be used for data collection and the respondents will be the cocoa farmers, cocoa buyers, input suppliers and policy makers. Focus Group Discussion will also be used during the sampling. Twelve respondents, 59 communities would be sampled in all. Serious commitment and dedication was stressed especially when on the field.
