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Recent increased sunshine and rainfall across most of Ivory Coast's cocoa growing regions have fueled optimism ahead of next month's start of the 2015/16 main crop harvest, farmers said on Monday. In the western region of Duekoue, farmers said earlier fears of disease outbreaks had largely subsided. "With the sun, the humidity level will be reduced a lot, preventing black pod and other diseases," said Fousseni Bamba, who farms on the outskirts of Duekoue.
The world's top cocoa producer is harvesting beans from the April-to-September mid-crop, and 2014/15 output appears set to at least match last year's record of 1.74 million tonnes. Production is expected to fall during the 2015/16 main crop harvest, however, due to poor rains earlier this year. And more recently, cool weather and cloud cover have fed concerns over possible disease outbreaks.
In the centre-western region of Daloa, responsible for a quarter of Ivory Coast's national output, and in the western region of Bouafle, farmers were pleased with the amount of sun and rain they were receiving. "Things have improved a lot. If there is sun and a bit of rain each week for the next month, the harvest will be long and the beans will be of good quality until January at least," said cooperative manager Francois M'Bra, who farms in Bouafle.
In the southern region of Aboisso, farmers reported abundant rainfall. "If we have a lot of hot weather until the end of the month, we will not have crop diseases or insects on the plantations and the harvest will be abundant," said Aboisso farmer Etienne Yao. Good growing conditions were also reported in the coastal regions of San Pedro and Sassandra, in the western region of Gagnoa, and in the southern regions of Agboville and Tiassale.
In the western region of Soubre, in the heart of the cocoa belt, farmers remained hopeful despite two straight weeks without rain. "With just a bit of rain this month, we can hope to have a lot of cocoa between November and December," said Soubre farmer Lazare Ake.

Copyright Reuters, 2015

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