Kufuor to Headline London Cocoa Forum as Africa Confronts Crisis and Opportunity

Former Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor is slated to deliver a Special Address at the inaugural Africa Cocoa Finance and Investment Forum (ACFIF 2026) at the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, 6 May 2026. This follows a moment when the industry is navigating one of its most turbulent periods in decades.

The forum brings together investors, policymakers, and industry leaders from across the world under the theme: "Africa Cocoa Vision 2050 – Historical Reflections and Future Pathways."

The choice of Kufuor as keynote speaker bears both symbolic and substantive weight. His presidency from 2001 to 2009 oversaw a dramatic transformation in Ghana's cocoa yields, with production climbing from roughly 340,563 tonnes at the start of his term to over 710,639 tonnes by the 2008/09 season, driven by strategic interventions such as the Mass Cocoa Spraying Programme and fertiliser support schemes.

His administration also introduced incentives that attracted global processors such as Cargill and Barry Callebaut, alongside Niche Cocoa, laying the foundation for Ghana's modern cocoa processing industry and contributing to the country's historic one-million-tonne cocoa harvest in the 2010/11 season.

A Sector Under Pressure

The forum convenes at a critical juncture. Global cocoa prices have collapsed from historic highs above $12,000 per tonne in 2024 to below $3,000 earlier in 2026, forcing Ghana to cut its farmgate price by 28.6 per cent in February and triggering a liquidity crisis that left farmers across multiple regions unpaid since November 2025.

Compounding the financial stress, smallholder farmers in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire face increasing climate volatility and ageing tree stocks. Meanwhile, the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) demands strict traceability for all cocoa entering European markets, placing an additional compliance burden on producers already stretched thin.

What the Forum Will Address

ACFIF 2026 marks the first edition of what organisers intend to become a premier global platform dedicated to mobilising finance and partnerships for Africa's cocoa economy, with a core focus on bridging the gap between investment capital and bankable opportunities.

Beyond the opening address, a high-level panel on "Africa Cocoa Vision 2050: Opportunities for Regional Growth and Transformation" will include Olasunkanmi Owoyemi, Managing Director of Sunbeth Global Concepts, and H.E. Alex Assanvo, Executive Secretary of the Côte d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative; the bilateral body managing cross-border pricing alignment between West Africa's two dominant producers throughout the current crisis.

A second session, "Reimagining Cocoa Value Addition: Financing Chocolate Manufacturing, Nutraceuticals and Pharmaceutical Innovation," will address opportunities beyond primary processing, which is a persistent structural weakness that has long seen Africa export raw beans while richer economies capture the bulk of downstream value.

The Stakes

Africa produces roughly two-thirds of the world's cocoa, yet earns a fraction of the industry's total revenues. The ACFIF platform is, at its core, a bid to change that equation. Kufuor's address is expected to draw on both statecraft and lived experience. Organisers note that he will speak as a former head of state and as a cocoa farmer himself, connecting Africa's cocoa past to its future ambitions.

The forum is convened by Cocoa Trade & Invest Africa and DMA Invest, in collaboration with the Institute of Directors (IoD) Africa Group.