Damp-loving black pod disease which had destroyed thousands of cocoa pods on farms in eastern Ivory Coast is retreating as rainfall eases, giving way to hot, sunny weather, local farmers said.
The fungal disease gained a foothold on farms across the world's top cocoa grower this year during months of repeated rainfall, causing pods to turn chocolate-brown and rot.
But there is now almost no sign of it in the eastern zone, which produces up to 120,000 tonnes of the annual Ivory Coast cocoa output of around 1.3 million tonnes. "We don't see black pod on the farms now because the rains have eased and since the sun is so strong, it's very hot," said N'Dre Kouaho N'Gouandi who has a 12 hectare plantation in Niable on the border with Ghana, the world's No 2 producer.
"Harvesting has picked up here now. (Last week) we harvested 23 sacks (of 74 kg) when in November we only harvested one sackful because of black pod," he said. "In September, October and November it was terrible," he said.
Farms visited by Reuters in and around Abengourou displayed large numbers of well-formed pods without the brown stains characteristic of black pod, which thrives in wet conditions.
Although almost all cocoa growing zones in the West African state were affected by the disease to some extent, it was particularly prevalent in the east where the fungal strain was the more potent Phytophthora Megakarya. With an abundance of ripe pods now on the trees, farmers in this region say they expect harvesting in the October-March main crop to remain strong until mid-January.
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