Light rain last week in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions bodes well for the development of the October-to-March main crop despite concerns about hot weather and incoming seasonal winds, farmers said on Monday. The world's top cocoa producer is at the start of the dry season, when downpours are rare. The Harmattan, a dry dusty wind that typically swoops down from the Sahara between December and March, can slash output and hurt bean quality by killing small pods and drying out the soil. Last year the wind was strong and caused severe damage.
An Abidjan-based agrometeorologist told Reuters the Harmattan is still mild but is moving southward and could affect many forested zones in the next 10 days. "If it stays hot and the Harmattan arrives in full force and lasts for a long time we won't have sufficient beans from February onward and the quality will be bad," said Amadou Diallo, who farms in the outskirts of the southern region of Divo.
Hot weather was also reported in the eastern region of Abengourou and western region of Gagnoa. But for the moment growing conditions are good, and there are more ripe pods on the trees than last year, farmers said. In the western region of Soubre, at the heart of the cocoa belt, an analyst reported 30 millimetres of rain last week, compared with no rain the previous week. "We can feel the Harmattan in the air. The farmers are wondering whether it might start to be strong next week," said Kouassi Kouame, who farms in the outskirts of Soubre.
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