Thousands of smallholder farmers in Etomi community, Etung local government area of Cross River State, took to the streets to protest the state government’s planned privatisation of a cocoa estate.
The protesters, including youths, aged men and women, boys, and girls involved in the cocoa value chain, carried placards with inscriptions such as “Our cocoa estate is not for sale” and “We won’t accept privatisation of our estate”.
Community leader Mr Mbek Agbor-Tangban warned the state government not to deviate from the agreement with their grandparents, who donated the large hectares of land for the cocoa estate.
He stated that the government should have consulted the community leaders before announcing plans to privatise the estate, citing the agreement’s provision that the landlords should be consulted and given priority in any privatisation or subletting.
Also expressing her anger on behalf of the community women, Women Leader Ntunkai Mary-Ndum demanded that the government pull out its cocoa stems and release the bare land to the community if it was no longer interested in the smallholder farmers scheme.
The youth leader, Mr Abang Shikina-Oji, called on the state government to reconsider its decision to privatise the estate, stressing that it would disadvantage the host community and likely throw many youths out of jobs, a development that the youth leader said might plunge the community’s youths into criminality.
In their separate reactions, state commissioners for agriculture and information, Mr Johnson Ebokpo and Dr Erasmus Ekpang, appealed for calm, stating that the governor would review the matter and address the people’s concerns.
They assured that the governor’s primary concern is the people’s interest and would not do anything to undermine it.
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