Abstract

Despite Nigeria's standing among the world's leading cocoa-producing countries, the sector remains dominated by the export of raw beans, with limited local processing and weak industrial integration. This study examined the cocoa industry in Ondo State, Nigeria, and its implications for industrial development, focusing on Idanre, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo and Ondo West Local Government Areas. A descriptive survey design was adopted, and a structured questionnaire was administered to 399 stakeholders in the cocoa value chain, comprising farmers, processors, merchants, cooperative leaders, extension officers, industrial development officials and investors. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) were used to address the research questions, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test four hypotheses at the 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed that the cocoa industry in Ondo State is moderately functional (WM = 2.60), constrained chiefly by poor infrastructure, inconsistent government policy and inadequate finance (WM = 3.14), yet offering substantial opportunities for economic diversification, employment and export growth (WM = 3.26). Respondents strongly endorsed infrastructural investment, expansion of processing capacity and financial incentives as repositioning strategies (WM = 3.31). The analyses showed significant associations between institutional support and industrial development (r = 0.682), value-chain challenges and industrial development (r = -0.711), value addition and employment generation (r = 0.734), and processing activity and sustainable industrial development (r = 0.756). Because the study is cross-sectional and uses correlation analysis, these associations should not be interpreted as causal effects. Secondary comparative evidence further shows the scale of the regional cocoa economy and the importance of domestic processing, while documented enterprise cases in Ondo State demonstrate the feasibility of value addition. The study concludes that coordinated infrastructure investment, domestic processing expansion, climate adaptation and consistent policy support are required to reposition Nigeria's cocoa sector as a driver of agro-industrial transformation.

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