High cocoa prices lure ‘cocoa boys’ back to Nigerian farmlands

GROWING up in Nigeria’s cocoa farming area of Ikom in the south-east, 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.

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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.

“So we started to come back and opened our own farms.”

Akwa is one of a cohort of new entrants to the sector, mostly men and nicknamed “cocoa boys’, who have switched to farming or other jobs to cash in on the cocoa price surge.

The Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, which represents smallholder farmers, saw its membership increase by more than 10 000 in 2023-2024.