Nigeria’s cocoa ambitions face labour crisis despite rains reviving production hopes

• Early rains improve flowering and pod development
• Labour shortages and rising wages threaten output recovery

ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigeria’s cocoa farms are showing signs of recovery after early rains revived flowering and pod development, but a deepening labour crisis is threatening to undermine the country’s long-standing export ambitions.

Across major cocoa-producing regions, farmers say improved rainfall has lifted expectations for the 2026/27 season after erratic weather disrupted production earlier this year. Yet even as conditions improve on the farms, many growers warn they are struggling to find workers to harvest, spray, and maintain cocoa trees — a shortage that is driving up labour costs and squeezing already fragile margins.