Above-average rains in Ivory Coast to bolster mid-crop, farmers say

Above-average rains mixed with long sunny spells last week across most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa growing regions are expected to improve growing conditions and strengthen the development of the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.

Ivory Coast, the world's top producer of the main ingredient in chocolate, is in its dry season, which runs from mid-November to March, when rains are scarce.

Several farmers across different cocoa regions told Reuters that favourable weather conditions were expected to improve the size and length of the mid-crop.

They said small pods known as cherelles had turned into bigger pods on their plantations, a sign of a healthy crop come April.

Farmers said harvesting would slowly begin by the end of this month.

Several farmers believed the mid-crop would be harvested between May and July with a peak between May and June, adding that if there were regular weekly rains until late April, the beans would be of good quality.

Farmers across the central regions said they were happy with the abundant rains of the last week as the moisture would help cocoa trees and pods while the heat was extreme and unbearable.

“We had a very hot week. Fortunately, we had plenty of rain," said Prosper Tiemele, who farms near Bongouanou, where 40.7mm of rain fell last week, 27.2mm above the five-year average.

Farmers reported similar trends and said growing conditions were good in the central region of Yamoussoukro, where rains were above average, and in the west-central region of Daloa, where rains were slightly below average.

In the western region of Soubre and the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were below average, and in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, where rains were above average, farmers said harvesting would start late this month, and they expected the mid-crop to be as abundant as last season.

“If it continues to rain well into April, the mid-crop will be long and plentiful,” said Simon Liade, who farms near Divo, where 24mm of rain fell last week, 9.3mm above the average.

The weekly average temperature ranged from 27.5 to 33°C in Ivory Coast last week.