Growing up in Nigeria's cocoa farming area of Ikom in the southeast, Anyoghe Akwa did not see much of a future, so instead he decided to move away, study civil engineering and carve out a career in the construction industry. That was until 2023, when he heard that cocoa prices were surging and farmers back home in Ikom were making a fortune. "We saw 20-year-olds who never attended university generating a lot of money from cocoa farming, while those of us who were aspiring for a PhD were struggling," said Akwa, 47, who had enrolled in a doctorate programme.