Nigeria’s Coffee Revolution: How JR Farms and Cross River State are Reviving Nigeria’s Lost Agricultural Heritage

Introduced during the colonial era in the early 1900s, Coffee cultivation initially flourished across Nigeria, as a notable producer in West Africa.

By the 1970s, Coffee had become a cornerstone of Nigeria’s agricultural economy, generating substantial foreign exchange alongside Cotton and Cocoa, positioning the nation as a formidable player in global coffee markets. However, the oil boom fundamentally altered agricultural priorities, leading to decades of neglect of investments that would prove catastrophic for the coffee sector.

Today’s coffee production figures reveal the magnitude of this decline. According to the latest Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) data, Nigeria produced 1,844 metric tons of green coffee in 2023, cultivated across 1,416 hectares with yields averaging 1.3 tons per hectare. Nigeria’s current coffee output constitutes a staggering 0.018% of global production and just 0.17% of Africa’s total coffee output, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO,2023). For a nation blessed with ideal agroecological conditions spanning multiple climatic zones, these numbers represent more than statistical decline they expose a continental-scale underutilized opportunity.

This decline mirrors broader systemic challenges plaguing Nigerian agriculture: the production landscape remains dominated by smallholder farmers, primarily concentrated in Plateau, Taraba, and Cross River states, who continue cultivating aging coffee trees using traditional methods passed down through generations, post-harvest processing remains largely artisanal, inadequate extension services, limited access to improved varieties, weak research and development infrastructure, and most critically, disconnection from evolving global value chains where premiums are increasingly tied to traceability, sustainability, and quality consistency. 

Cross River State’s groundbreaking partnership with French agricultural firm JR Farms distributing one million coffee seedlings represents more than a simple agricultural initiative it signals a fundamental shift in how state governments are approaching value chain development in the 21st century. This strategic subsidy model, rather than traditional handouts, ensures genuine farmer commitment while maintaining accessibility for smallholders. 

The approach champions co-creation and authentic ownership, eliminates waste, and builds the foundation for a sustainable coffee industry that could position Nigeria as a major player in the global coffee market worth over $100 billion annually (GCR, 2024). For Nigerian business stakeholders and international buyers, this initiative demonstrates the strategic thinking required to convert agricultural potential into profitable market reality offering both domestic investment opportunities and reliable supply chain partnerships for European and American coffee importers seeking new origins with government-backed sustainability credentials.

From a macroeconomic perspective, Cross River’s coffee initiative addresses three strategic imperatives simultaneously. First, it diversifies the state’s agricultural portfolio beyond traditional crops like cocoa and palm oil, reducing vulnerability to commodity price volatility. Second, it targets foreign exchange generation at a time when Nigeria’s current economic pressures demand innovative export solutions. Third, it creates employment opportunities for rural youth populations as input dealers, rural agents/aggregators, merchants, small and medium scale processors, tech support agents  who might otherwise migrate to urban centers.

What distinguishes the State’s approach is its elevation-based allocation model, which aligns Arabica varieties with highland areas and Robusta with lowland regions. This level of technical precision reflects a deep understanding of agronomic science an area many state-level initiatives often overlook. The international partnership dimension also deserves attention, as JR Farms brings proven expertise in post-harvest processing and global market access two critical areas where the Nigerian coffee industry has traditionally struggled. Hitherto, JR Farms has worked actively in coffee roasting and exporting globally from East Africa, in addition, it operates 16 coffee shops spread across two countries, with the goal of replicating its coffee shops across continents.

According to the official statement by Hon. John A. Ebokpo, Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, the state’s deployment of 56 trained enumerators for door-to-door farmer profiling from May 26 to June 9, 2025, highlights a data-driven strategy. The partnership prioritizes farmer registration, cooperative formation, quality training, offtake agreements, and continuous technical support. Enumerators are expected to evolve into full-time agronomic extension agents critical infrastructure for sustainable value chain development.

The cooperative formation effort is arguably the program’s most strategic element, recognizing that organized farmer groups are essential for achieving economies of scale, consistent quality, and reliable market access. Addressing the core of the initiative, Olawale Rotimi Opeyemi, CEO of JR Farms, shared with AGnimble “By organizing 20,000 farmers into structured cooperatives across Cross River, we’re creating the structure needed to scale production, ensure consistent quality, and build lasting trust with buyers – laying the groundwork for a robust coffee ecosystem”. While JR Farms offers initial market linkage, long-term sustainability will depend on diversified buyer networks, price transparency, and digital traceability systems that reward quality. Technical extension services are equally critical, as coffee cultivation demands specialized skills beyond traditional crop farming—a gap this initiative seeks to close.

Given the 3–5-year maturation period of coffee trees, building climate resilience through drought-resistant varieties, shade tree integration as well as agroforestry practices is also vital. 

Transformative Potential and Digital Integration

With access and training on appropriate digital tools on the horizon, Cross River’s coffee growers will be well-positioned to optimize agronomic practices using real-time crop, environmental, and market data. In alignment with emerging traceability and sustainability standards such as the EUDR, AGnimble a potential technology partner will support efforts to enhance traceability, promote data-driven decision-making, and unlock broader access to premium export markets. Historically, Nigerian coffee has been excluded from these specialty market segments. For Cross River’s farmers, this presents the opportunity for significantly higher earnings compared to conventional commodity channels, creating sustainable long-term income streams that justify investments in high-yield seedlings and improved cultivation practices, ultimately fostering long-term farmer prosperity.

However, several critical success factors will determine whether this initiative achieves its transformative potential. Immediate success will be measured by metrics such as seedling distribution and survival rates, cooperative formation and effective governance, adoption of best agronomic practices, basic farm record-keeping, and consistent extension support services. In the long term, success hinges on timely post-harvest processing to meet global quality standards, adoption of digital platform/tools, strengthened capability of  the National Coffee and Tea Association, increased exports, improved farmer earnings, and reclaiming a significant share of the global market.

The broader industry implications extend beyond Cross River’s boundaries. This model has the potential to demonstrate how technology-enabled agricultural value chains can rapidly scale successful interventions across Nigeria’s 36 states. States with existing coffee cultivation like Plateau, Adamawa, and Taraba could replicate Cross River’s approach, potentially revitalizing Nigeria’s position in global coffee markets within a decade while demonstrating how technology can unlock African agriculture’s transformative potential.