Ivory Coast's 2008/2009 coffee crop should be stronger than the previous season thanks to improved weather conditions, farmers said on Wednesday after regular rains began to help the development of new flowers.
Favourable weather since mid-February in the West African country's robusta coffee-growing zones meant plantations were looking healthier than at the same stage a year ago. "This year the rain came at the right time and things are looking ok for coffee. The growers are feeling reassured," said farmer Mamadou Kone, who has 34 hectares of coffee and cocoa plantations near the western town of Duekoue.
A lack of rain last year and a particularly harsh harmattan wind blowing down from the Sahara means exporters, buyers and farmers in the former French colony fear the 2007/2008 crop could fall below 80,000 tonnes from 171,000 the previous year.
Robusta coffee production in the West African state - which together with Uganda ranks among the continent's main growers - was around 200,000 tonnes at the start of the decade but has averaged only 137,000 tonnes in the last five years.
A recent rise in world coffee prices has sparked renewed interest among growers, many of whom had abandoned the crop because they were unable to make a decent profit. But that interest has yet to translate into higher export figures.
In the centre-western region of Daloa, the eastern region of Abengourou, the western region of Gagnoa, the southern region of Aboisso and the coastal region of Sassandra, farmers said good weather in February pointed to a healthy upcoming coffee crop.