By Victoria Omini
The Cross River State Government has officially launched a major agricultural initiative to register approximately 17,000 cocoa, oil palm, and coffee farmers under the newly established State Traceability System.
The move is designed to ensure that the state’s agricultural exports remain competitive and compliant with the stringent European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
During a stakeholders’ engagement held in Calabar on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of the system, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Johnson Ebokpo, emphasized that the global landscape for agricultural trade is undergoing a radical shift.
READ ALSO: Congress: APC members protest PDP hijacking of party structure in Anambra
“The European Union Deforestation Regulation now requires that commodities such as cocoa and other forestry products entering the EU market must be proven to be deforestation-free and fully resilient to the environment,” Ebokpo stated while declaring the session open.
The Commissioner highlighted that the primary objective is to deploy credible technology capable of capturing precise farmland data and integrating geolocation mapping. This data will strengthen aggregation structures and position Cross River as Nigeria’s primary national traceability hub.
The state is working closely with Pula Advisors, the lead consultants for the programme. Dr. Adewole Bello, the Country Field Team Lead for Pula Advisors, confirmed that the exercise will cover farmers across 17 Local Government Areas.
“We will deploy the Mavuno Tech setup to collect EUDR and traceability compliance data,” Dr. Bello explained. “Geo-coordinates will be used to precisely identify the boundaries and locations of every farm involved.”
Williams Archibong, Director General of the Cross River Geographic Information Agency (CRGIA), affirmed his agency’s total commitment to the project, noting that as the custodian of state geography data, they are “100% behind the exercise” to ensure data transparency and accuracy.
Introduced in 2023, the EUDR is a set of global rules aimed at ending deforestation linked to commercial cash crops. The regulation mandates that any agricultural commodities exported to the European Union must be mapped to exact farm boundaries; compliant with the laws of the producing country; and produced on land that has not been deforested recently.
By establishing this digital framework, the Cross River State Government aims to protect the livelihoods of thousands of smallholder farmers whose products might otherwise be locked out of the lucrative European market.
