The Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Massimo De Luca, has said the EU aims to develop a strategy that both protects the environment and mitigates the effects of climate change.
He stated this at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja, to receive the report of an EU-funded study analysing the preparedness of cocoa and other value chains to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
He said: “In cocoa farming, a lot of virgin land is cleared, and farmers utilise such forested lands to farm. This is why the EUDR is important to discourage deforestation, but also why the EU is here to support the local farmers with improved agro-ecological techniques and improvements in productivity.”
The EUDR, introduced on 29 June 2023, aims to limit the EU market’s impact on global deforestation, forest degradation, and biodiversity loss, promote deforestation-free supply chains, reduce the EU’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, and protect human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.
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Products covered under the EUDR include cocoa as well as palm oil, cattle, soy, coffee, timber, rubber, and their derivatives (beef, furniture, and chocolate are also listed).
As the EU attracts 67 per cent of cocoa exports from Nigeria, preparedness in this sector is particularly critical.
The workshop also presented the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), a new legislative instrument applying to all value chains and requiring that, while conducting economic activities, companies should minimise negative environmental and social impacts.
Explaining the significance of the CS3D, Massimo De Luca said: “From water, to child labour, companies need to assess risks associated with their activities and measures to remedy them, including compliance with national and international standards.”
In his presentation, Javier Sánchez, key expert commissioned by the European Commission, noted that while the EUDR presents short-term challenges for producing countries, it offers significant opportunities in the medium term.
“The EUDR should not be seen as a disadvantage for Nigeria. This is an opportunity to enhance environmental sustainability, create sustainable value chains, and strengthen compliance with national regulations across the value chain,” he said.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, represented by Ajayi Olutobaba, Deputy Director, Cocoa/Member, National Cocoa Management Committee, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, welcomed the EU’s partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the introduction of the EUDR.
He said: “Given the importance of the EUDR and the need to ensure due diligence assessments in Nigeria’s cocoa sector to guarantee deforestation-free supply chains for cocoa and other agricultural products, I recently inaugurated the National Taskforce on EUDR, comprising all relevant stakeholders in the affected value chains.”
