Economic development.

Kola is an important cash crop to a significant proportion of Nigerian population who are involved in kola farming, trading and industrial utilization. Research on the improvement of kola productivity and utilization is one of the major mandates of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), where remarkable achievements have been made on kola. CRIN has developed improved Cola nitida hybrids with short maturation period of 5 years and an annual average yield of about 2000 nuts/tree/year.