Cross River State governor, Bassey Otu, on Saturday wooed investors with the success of the state’s cocoa, palm and cassava revolution at the 2026 African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network Investment Conference (AfSNET 2026) in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
Otu spoke during the success stories session for sub-sovereign governments on the second day of the confab.
The governor said the state promoted a community-based smallholder scheme to build the value chain required for its export free zone, with pilots already running across the state.
“We’ve done pilots all over already, both in terms of cocoa, palm, and cassava. This year alone, or last year alone, we did about 1.5 million oil palm. We did a lot of cocoa. We’ve also done coffee,” he said.
Otu said the scheme was deliberately community-based because smallholders benefit directly and change the economy faster than big plantations alone.
“What we’ve discovered is that though we do have big plantations, the one that benefits the smallholders directly and changes the economy in less than no time is the one that you involve them,” he maintained.
“Apart from providing the necessary security, they also immediately build their pockets and take care of their families.”
He said the state has digitised its soils to ensure farmers produce according to comparative advantage, with projects running in the central, northern and southern zones.
“We make sure that you produce according to your comparative advantage. We’ve already digitised all our soils and so on and so forth. We know what goes best anywhere,” he said.
The governor stated that by the time the export free zone is completed, attracting investments and tenants would not be a problem as tenants are already waiting.
“Already, we do have tenants for the project, which we believe in no time, as they finish their own part, that will immediately come to bear,” he added.
He stressed that the aggregate impact on the state’s economic productivity would be high because everybody around the state is involved, and urged fellow sub-sovereign governments to focus on what can immediately attract investors.
“If you look at the space, the aggregates that will move immediately in terms of our economic productivity, it will be quite high, because everybody all around the state is involved,” he stated.