Lack of rain and hot weather in Ivory Coast's south-west cocoa growing region have brought an early end to the main crop, dashing farmers' hopes for a bumper season and reducing exporters' overall harvest forecasts.
"You can see how the sun has ruined everything. The plantation has dried up because of the heat which kills the flowers and the pods. There's nothing more on the trees, everything is dead," said farmer Gervais Konan Konan.
"It's all over as far as the main crop is concerned," he added, standing among trees bearing chocolate-coloured dried brown leaves and small pods prematurely matured by the heat. Konan's farm is near Meagui in Ivory Coast's south-west region, which accounts for more than a quarter of national cocoa production in the world's top grower.
Despite reports of rain now arriving in moisture-starved areas, some exporters in Ivory Coast have cut nearly 50,000 tonnes from previous forecasts that the October to March main crop would yield at least 1.1 million tonnes. Upcountry buyers in the south-west Soubre district were also declaring an early end to the Ivorian main crop.