ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Rainfall was below average last week in most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions but remained adequate for the development of the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, is in its rainy season that runs from April to mid-November.
Farmers said the soil moisture level was enough to boost the development of many small and medium-sized pods.
Harvesting is gathering pace and will peak next month as lots of large pods are almost ripe, they added.
“The level of rain is good for the trees. The harvest will start to be abundant this month,” said Dominique Koue, who farms near the western region of Soubre, where 15.4 millimetres (mm) of rain fell last week, 9.2 mm below the five-year average.
Rainfall was also below the average in the southern region of Agboville, the eastern region of Abengourou, the centre-western region of Daloa and the central region of Yamoussoukro.
Rainfall was above the average in the southern region of Divo and the central region of Boungouanou.
Farmers in several regions said the quality of beans was improving slightly from earlier in the season.
“We think the rain will be more and more abundant and the quality will get better, attracting buyers,” said Antoine Kassi, who farms near Bongouanou, where 31.9 mm of rain fell last week, 8.5 mm above the average.
Average temperatures ranged from 26.8 to 30.1 degrees Celsius last week.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Nellie Peyton and Barbara Lewis)
