The West Africa Specialty Coffee Association (WASCA) has announced a strategic partnership with Brazilian agricultural firm, Kukuza Agronegocio, to organise an intensive training programme for Nigerian coffee industry stakeholders.
Scheduled to take place from March 6-20, 2026, in Brazil, the global epicenter of coffee production and trade, the programme is designed to assist Nigeria in boosting its economy through agro-tourism and enhanced coffee production.
According to a statement released by WASCA, participants will gain exposure to global coffee quality practices, sustainable farming techniques, and Brazil’s rich coffee heritage, including cooperative management strategies. The comprehensive training will feature field immersion experiences, cooperative visits, laboratory training, and strategic planning sessions with various stakeholders across the Brazilian coffee value chain.
The initiative comes at a critical time for Nigeria’s coffee sector. Despite the country’s potential for increased production, statistics show that Nigeria exported only $109,000 worth of coffee in 2023, ranking it 136th among 199 coffee-exporting nations globally. Remarkably, the country currently imports 95% of the coffee it consumes, highlighting a significant opportunity for domestic production growth.
Coffee remains among the top 10 traded commodities on the global market today, underscoring the economic potential of developing Nigeria’s coffee industry.
WASCA President, Larry Segun-Lean, outlined the programme’s practical components, explaining that participants would engage in hands-on training covering processing, fermentation, drying, and cupping of coffee seeds.
“They would be able to master quality and marketing from farm to cup, learn how branding, storytelling and direct trade open premium markets,” Segun-Lean disclosed.
The training will also encompass climate-resilient farming practices, agroecology, and income diversification strategies. Participants will evaluate governance models from successful coffee-producing states and compare them with Nigeria’s current infrastructure.
“All these have great implications for the coffee-producing states in Nigeria, who, by the way, are expected to be on the ground in Brazil should they desire to boost their states’ revenue,” the WASCA president emphasized.
Addressing poverty alleviation and welfare improvement for those in Nigeria’s coffee industry, Segun-Lean noted that participants would visit family-run farms and study the Araponga cooperative model to understand how the organisation enhances farmer empowerment and market values.
