Mr Abimbola encouraged farmers who experienced losses not to be discouraged.
He said the seedlings were distributed to farmers at highly subsidised rates.
Mr Olawuyi said the association had also noticed that substandard cocoa beans were being traded in the market.
Mr Leenknegt noted that Belgium is quite obsessed with making the right kind of chocolate and would need more cocoa from Nigeria.
Ms Ogunkua said the restoration of the hectares of land would be carried out in Cross River and Ondo State, respectively.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The National Bureau of Statistics said Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 27.33 per cent in October 2023.
Cote d’Ivoire is the world’s top cocoa producer with annual production of about 2.2 million tonnes.
Mr Adeola said the diversification was necessary, given the increasing dwindling revenue profile of the nation.
The prosecution counsel told the court that the defendants committed the offence on May 13, 2022 around 1:00 p.m. at Erinta Village in Ile-Ife.
