Light rains mixed with variable sunshine across most of Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions augur well for the development of the next October-to-March main crop, which is expected to be healthy, farmers said this week.
The world's largest cocoa producer is in the middle of the rainy season, which runs from April to mid-November. However, data showed rains were well below average last week.
Farmers said they were happy with growing conditions as cocoa trees were carrying many fruits of different sizes that will be harvested from September until at least December.
They also said more rains were expected in September and October compared with August. By mid-September, more beans of big size and of good quality will leave the bush as harvesting would start to pick up, farmers said.
In the southern and coastal regions farmers said they thought the majority of the next main crop would be harvested from November to mid-January.
"The next main crop looks promising. There are many pods of different sizes on the trees," said Benoit Tah, who farms near the western region of Soubre, where 6.2mm of rain fell last week, 9.9mm below the five-year average.
Similar comments were reported in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo and in the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were below average. Farmers there said harvesting which was still modest would pick up from mid-September.
In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were well below average, farmers said last week was the sunniest since about one month ago.
"The weather has been good. We've had a lot of sunshine. That will help the trees a lot," said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa, where 1.8mm of rain fell last week, 24.8mm below the five-year average.
Weekly average temperatures across Ivory Coast last week ranged from 23.2°C to 27.9°C.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.