The Ondo State Government on Thursday destroyed 200kg adulterants used for adulteration of cocoa beans, seized from a merchant in the Ondo West Local Government Area of the state.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Forestry and produce sub section), Segun Odusanya, supervised the destruction of the 200kg bags of seized adulterants.

Mr Odusanya explained that the destruction was part of government efforts to ensure that the state maintained quality cocoa production in the country.

Mr governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has reiterated the commitment to ensure the state remains the highest producing state with good cocoa quality. Anyone caught engaging in illegal activities will be prosecuted accordingly. Moreover, this action was embarked on to warn cocoa merchants, who intend to engage in illegal activities, to rethink before getting into it. We are going to seal any store caught in such illegal activities; the products will be burnt while the merchant will be prosecuted according to the laws of the land. If we are saying we are the highest cocoa-producing state and we continue to encounter this scenario, it will give us bad publicity. The bad publicity will be in the country and extend to the international market, and we don’t want that.’’

The permanent secretary, therefore, commended Mr Aiyedatiwa for graciously approving the recruitment of 60 new staff to checkmate the activities of cocoa merchants in the state.

“Mr governor has supported us; he has said we should recruit more people to guard against any adulteration and ensure we have good quality cocoa beans. I must commend our task force committee for ensuring that the state holds its position in the country and the international market,” he said.

Earlier, a Director of Produce (DP3) in the Grading and Allied Department of the ministry, Tunji Akinnadeju, said the adulterants were intercepted at Ondo West Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Akinnadeju said that the owner of the adulterants ran away.

“As we all know, cocoa is being sold in weight and after adding all these things, it will be sold at high prices, which is not good enough. So, doing that will bring a lot of damage to the image of the state and the country at large in the international market,” he said.

Also, a Director of Produce Licensing in the ministry, Sunday Adegbola, said the merchants’ actions could affect people during consumption of the cocoa products, if care was not taken.

Mr Adegbola, who pledged that the ministry would not rest until the state was free from adulterated cocoa beans, said the nefarious action could be attributed to the price tag at the international market.

“It is the price at the international market and the price is better for the farmers, not for the people who use adulterants. With this action, many people will drink cocoa as a chocolate powder and other materials from cocoa beans which have been adulterated. The consumption of these chemical products will also affect humans,” he said.

(NAN)