ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Above average rain in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa growing regions last week bodes well for the development and quality of the October-to-March main crop, farmers said on Monday.
The world’s top cocoa producer is in its rainy season, which runs officially from April to mid-November. Rains are usually plentiful and heavy during this time.
Farmers across the country said trees were full of ripe and ripening pods.
They expected two abundant harvests per month from November and said there shouldn’t be any bean shortages until February, adding that there was also enough sunshine to boost bean quality.
“Many pods have ripened and farmers have hired lots of workers for the harvests,” said Pacome Kouao, who farms near the eastern region of Abengourou, where 44.5 millimeters (mm) of rain fell last week, 13.6 mm above the five-year average.
Rainfall was also above average in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro and the southern region of Agboville.
“We will have a lot of cocoa because there are plenty of green pods (on trees),” said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa in the centre west, where 14.3 mm of rain fell last week, 5.2 mm below the average.
In the western region of Soubre and the southern region of Divo, where rains were also below average, farmers said soil moisture content was still enough to sustain crops. They noted that many small green pods on trees meant the main crop would be long.
Average temperatures ranged between 26.6 and 29 degrees Celsius in Ivory Coast last week.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Sofia Christensen, Kirsten Donvovan)
