ABIDJAN, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Mainly above-average rains last week in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa regions augur well for the development of the next April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
The world’s top cocoa producer is in its dry season, which runs from mid-November to March, when downpours are scarce. But farmers said there had been above-average rains in most of the main growing areas and flowers were beginning to bloom on the trees.
Farmers said they were focused on the April-to-September mid-crop’s development because most of the October-to-March main crop would be harvested by late January.
The weather was good for the development of the mid-crop, they said, adding that the main crop could finish with many beans as there were still enough pods on trees that could be harvested until late March.
“The mid-crop is off to a good start. The trees have been well watered and the flowers are beginning to bloom,” said Joel Atta, who farms near the central region of Bongouanou, where 7 millimetres (mm) of rain fell last week, 5.5 mm above the five-year average.
Similar comments were reported in the west-central region of Daloa and in the central region of Yamoussoukro, where rains were above average.
In the western region of Soubre and in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, where rains were below average last week and in the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were above average, farmers said a good soil moisture content was helping trees after weeks of abundant rains.
Farmers in those regions said harvesting had started to slow but they expected sufficient volumes of beans to leave the bush until March.
“The weather is favourable for the development of the mid-crop and also for the end of the main crop season,” said Salame Kone, who farms near Soubre, where 1.3 mm of rain fell last week, 1.9 mm below the five-year average.
Weekly average temperatures across Ivory Coast last week ranged from 27.3 to 31 degrees Celsius (81.14 to 87.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and Sharon Singleton)
