Nigeria, April 11 -- Six years after graduating from the university in his Cross River home state, John Etta abandoned his search for a white-collar job. Following his uncle's advice, he ventured into agribusiness in 2021, focusing on cocoa, the key ingredient in chocolate, with bush mangoes, plantain, yam, and cocoyam on the side.

His uncle, a university teacher, had introduced him to the wealth of opportunities in cocoa farming, particularly in their community of Bendeghe-Afi, 240 kilometres from the state capital Calabar, where rising cocoa prices have created millionaires and sustained many livelihoods.

About 50 minutes from Afi Forest Reserve on a fast motorcycle, the community is 23 kilometres from Ikom, the state's cocoa trading ...