Cocoa pods on April 29, 2023 for photos on a farm on the Goose Coast.
Luc Gnago | Reuters
Strong rainfall in the central Ivory Coast is expected to strengthen cocoa trees and improve growth conditions from April to mid-September, farmers said Monday.
Ivory Coast is the world’s top producer of chocolate’s main ingredients, and is in a dry season that is scarce from mid-November to March.
Farmers have been worried that hot weather will delay the start of the mid-season and received above-average supply of beans in the central region last week.
Farmers say they are happy now because moisture is expected to help young pods survive. They added that another rain is needed to increase cocoa tree yields before the end of the month.
“The trees will do better. Many cocoa trees become weak due to lack of water,” Etienne Brou
Last week, it was above the five-year average of 11.3 mm.
In the central Bongouanou region where rainfall is above average, similar comments were made in the Midwest part of Daloa, where rainfall is below average, but farmers say the moisture level is enough to help the cocoa trees.
Farmers from the western region of Soubre and southern Divo where rainfall is below average, farmers from the southern region of Agboville and the eastern region of Abengourou (both above average rainfall) say that growth remains good and becomes small pods.
Farmers in these areas added that if rainfall is routine from March, the medium-sized production will be as rich as last season.
“If we had a lot of rain starting in March, we would have enough beans for medium-sized works,” said Kouassi Kouame of the farm near Soubre, which saw a drop in 1.2mm rainfall last week, 7.2mm lower and 7.2mm lower.
Last week, the weekly average temperatures on the Ivory Coast ranged from 27.8 to 33.2 degrees Celsius.
