IVORY COAST, FEBRUARY 26, 2018 – Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer, got some welcome relief in the past week with higher-than-normal rainfall across the main growing regions.
Small Pods
“It has been raining in the area for several days,” said Jeannot Assi, a farmer in the southern town of Alepe, in Ivory Coast. “We are now seeing flowers and small pods” on the trees.
There has also been heavy rain in Tiebissou, in the center of Ivory Coast, that will allow the trees to bloom, said farmer Moussa Kouassi. Growers have begun maintenance work for the mid-crop harvest, he said.
While the weather has improved, harvesting volumes have decreased as the main crop peters out and farmers in the west and southwest said they’ve seen bean size and quality deteriorate.
“The beans are small,” said Vincent Zadi, a farmer in Grand Zatry, in the southwest. More rains are needed to help the cocoa trees to bloom and produce small pods, he said.
For farmers in the east of the country, the smuggling of beans into neighboring Ghana remains the biggest concern, said farmer Kobenan Kouame.
In other West African cocoa-producing countries:
- Dryness continued in south-central Ghana and is negatively affecting crops, Boadi Yeboah, 69, who oversees a group of 2,000 farmers around Kwabeng, said Friday.
- There was “only a short period of drizzle last Thursday and that was the first sign of rain in weeks.”
- In Cameroon, there was some light rain last week that resulted in early flowering of some cocoa trees, said Ojong James, a farmer near Buea, in the west of the country
- There’s a risk those flowers may struggle as normal seasonal dryness resumes, but rain should fall again in March.
- In eastern Nigeria, farmers are optimistic about the mid-crop as periods of mildly hot and humid weather help new flowers develop on many trees, said Emajore Mapair, a grower in Taraba state; there is no dust and soil moisture levels are good.
- In the southwest of the country, it rained consistently for four days and plantations are looking healthy with bright green leaves on every tree and new flowers emerging, said Yakubu Aminu, a farmer in Edo state; there’s some concern about potential flooding.
