Cocoa farmers from across Ondo State have celebrated three successful years of farming which have netted them nearly N26 million in premium payments from the country's agribusiness leader, Olam Nigeria.

A statement from Olam Nigeria made available to newsmen in Ilorin said the farmers who are members of Ore Agbe Akure; a 3,000 strong farmer group set up by Olam in 2011 to improve farmer livelihoods, converged on Onisere in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo to celebrate the feats.

Olam is a leading global integrated supply chain manager and processor of agricultural products and food ingredients. Agricultural products processed by Olam include Cocoa, Cashew, Sesame and Cotton. It also has a cashew processing plant at Ogbondoroko, a suburb of Ilorin, Kwara State.

According to the statement, working closely with the group, Olam's corporate responsibility and sustainability team had delivered farm management training and GPS mapped 5,000 hectares of farmland."In so doing, Olam equipped Nigerian cocoa farmers with accurate information about the size of their farms", it added.

The company also distributed higher yielding planting materials and successfully prepared the farmers for Rainforest Alliance audits in 2012 and 2013 which made the N26 million premium payments possible.

A representative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Peter Aikpokpodion urged Ore Agbe Akure farmers to "seize the opportunity" given to them by Olam to improve themselves and their farms.

Also speaking, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Manager for Olam Nigeria, Jennifer Abuah commended all the farmers for their hard work. Abuah pledged Olam's commitment to "maximising the potential of both men and women cocoa farmers for the sustained growth of the Nigerian cocoa sector."