ABIDJAN, March 9 (Reuters) – Steady rainfall in many of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa-growing regions will produce enough small and average-sized pods to ensure a strong March-to-August mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, is currently in its dry season, running officially from mid-November to March, when rains are poor and scarce.
The government announced last week that it was cutting the fixed farmgate price paid to cocoa farmers by 57% to 1,200 CFA francs ($2.14) per kg for the mid-crop.
Farmers across the country said they were happy with the regular rainfall seen since the beginning of March, which they said was crucial for the development of the mid-crop.
“The rainfall is good. The cocoa that will come out of the bush this year during the mid-crop will be much more compared to last season,” said Samuel Gnepa, who farms in the southern region of Divo, where 44.3 mm of rain fell last week, 29.8 mm above the five-year average.
Rainfall was also above average last week in the western region of Soubre, though it was below average in the southern region of Agboville, the eastern region of Abengourou, the centre-west region of Daloa and the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro.
Even farmers in regions with below-average rainfall predicted a healthy harvest.
“The size of the beans will be better compared to last season,” said Jean-Marie Aka, who farms near Daloa, which recorded 13 mm of rainfall last week, 2.3 mm below the average.
The weekly average temperature ranged from 28.5 to 31.7 degrees Celsius.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Joe Bavier)
