Ivory Coast cocoa farmers worried by heat and lack of rain

ABIDJAN, March 18 (Reuters) – A prolonged lack of abundant rainfall mixed with a strong heat wave in most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions is threatening to reduce the size of the April-to-September mid-crop and damage its quality, farmers said on Monday.

The world’s top cocoa producer is moving towards its rainy season, which runs officially from April to mid-November. Rains are usually abundant during this period.

However, last week’s weather was still very hot, several farmers across the country said, adding that small pods on trees could dry out.

If high temperatures last, this could make the mid-crop smaller than last year.

The marketing season for the mid-crop will start early in April and farmers expect a low availability of beans to sell until at least mid-May.

In the west-central region of Daloa, and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were below average, farmers said beans were expected to be of small size in the first three months of the mid-crop.

“It’s not raining well and it’s very hot. The beans will be very small and of poor quality,” said Eugene Kouassi, who farms near Daloa, where 2.2 millimetres (mm) fell last week, 15.7 mm below the five-year average.

In the western region of Soubre, in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, and in the eastern region of Abengourou farmers said regular and abundant rains were needed to strengthen the development of the mid-crop.

Farmers from those regions, where rainfall was also below average, said they were optimistic as the weather was often cloudy.

“We’re hoping for rain from now on, otherwise the mid-crop harvest will be poor,” said Salame Kone, who farms near Soubre, where 1.9 mm fell last week, 10.2 mm below the average.

Average temperatures ranged between 29.4 to 32.8 degrees Celsius last week. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and David Evans)

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