Abundant rains with long spells of hot sunshine last week in Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing regions are paving the way to a bigger October-March main crop, farmers said. Last season, cocoa output tailed off sharply in December after rains dried up and the main crop ended around 900,000 tonnes.
This year, plentiful downpours have raised hopes of higher production and the BCC marketing body has conservatively forecast a main crop of 950,000 tonnes. In the centre-western region of Daloa, which produces a quarter of the crop in the world's largest cocoa exporter, farmers reported sunny skies punctuated by downpours. "The week was very sunny and we had two downpours," farmer Marcel Aka said on Monday. Aka, whose farm is on the outskirts of Daloa added that the sun would help to dry beans already harvested.
"It is a very good time for cocoa. It makes drying easier and helps many small and young pods to grow," said Aka. "If we receive one shower a week in November there will be abundant cocoa until March." Further north in Soubre, in the heart of the cocoa belt, farmers also said the weather was good. Soil moisture was high and would support the growth of pods during the dry season, which starts around mid-November, farmers said.
The high precipitation in Ivory Coast this year has raised the spectre of rampant black pod disease, a fungal infection spreading in south-western and western regions. Exporters told Reuters last week that black pod could reduce output by up to 100,000 tonnes, but most still expected the main crop to top 1 million tonnes. In the bush, farmers said plantations were full of flowers, young and small pods.
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