Ivory Coast cocoa farmers see abundant flowering despite below-average rains

Adequate soil moisture is fostering abundant flowering on trees, signaling a healthy October-to-March main crop, despite mainly below average rains in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing regions last week, farmers said on Monday.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, is in its rainy season, which runs from April to mid-November, when rains are abundant and often heavy.

With the mid-crop winding down, growers said their focus had shifted to weather conditions for the upcoming main crop.

They said flowering has begun, with July set to be critical for determining when the next main crop harvesting will start as well as its size, as a balanced mix of sun and rain is needed to foster flower proliferation and the development of small cocoa pods, known as cherelles.

"Flowering on the trees has started well ... If this pace of flowering continues, we will have a lot of cocoa this season," said Kouassi Kouame, who farms in the western region of Soubre, where 71.6mm fell last week, 22.4mm above the five-year average.

In the southern region of Divo, where rains exceeded averages, and in the southern region of Agboville and the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were both below average, farmers said favourable weather was driving abundant flowering on trees.

They added that the April-to-September mid-crop was expected to end strongly as a wave of pods is set for harvest by mid-August.

In the centre-western region of Daloa, and the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were below average, farmers said favourable July weather could lead to an early start for the next main crop.

"If we get plenty of sunshine in July along with good rainfall, the main crop will start early," said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa, where 15.3mm fell last week, 13.2mm below the average.

The weekly average temperature ranged from 24.8 to 28.7°C.

Reuters