Light rains and sunshine in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa-growing regions prompted farmers to say on Monday that conditions were improving for the harvest despite the upcoming dry season and Harmattan winds. The dry season in Ivory Coast runs from mid-November to March, but rains have been adequate for the past two months, and farmers said they expected a healthy harvest through late January.
The main crop in the world's top cocoa grower opened on October 1 and farmers said plenty of beans were leaving plantations for ports. Meanwhile, good growing conditions were fostering the development of small pods. In the western region of Soubre, in the heart of the cocoa belt, an analyst reported 35 millimetres of rain this week, compared with about 92 mm during the previous period.
"We will have a lot of cocoa of good quality this year because the trees are filled with flowers and pods," said Soubre farmer Koffi Kouame. In the southern region of Aboisso, farmers said they had received plenty of rain this week. But farmer Etienne Yao worried that if the rains continued at current levels, it could make it difficult to dry beans. In the central-western region of Daloa, responsible for a quarter of Ivory Coast's national output, farmers reported at least three abundant rains punctuated with sunshine.
Raphael Kouadio, who farms near Daloa, said he was encouraged by the range of sizes of pods on the trees. However he remained concerned about the upcoming Harmattan. The Harmattan is a dry wind that blows in from the Sahara usually from December to March. When severe it can kill cocoa pods and sap soil moisture, which reduces the beans' size. "We think we have enough moisture in the soil to manage during the dry season," said Kouadio. "But if the Harmattan and the dry season are very strong, the farmers think the beans will be small after January and of poor quality." Good growing conditions were also reported in the southern regions Agboville, Divo and Tiassale, in the western regions Duekoue and Gagnoa and in coastal San Pedro and Sassandra.
Comments
Comments are closed.