Etienne Yao News

Heavy rains last week in the coastal and southern regions of Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing zone threatened the last stage of the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday, though conditions remained good elsewhere. The marketing season for the mid-crop in the world's top cocoa grower opened on April 1 and harvesting is expected to decline from mid-July. Farmers said the focus of growers' concern over the weather was switching to the main crop. "There is too much rain. There's water everywhere in the camps.

Abundant rains combined with infrequent and short spells of sunshine in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa-growing regions created wet growing conditions last week that could dent the size of the April-to-September crop, farmers said on Monday. The marketing season for the mid-crop in the world's top cocoa grower opened on April 1 and harvesting is expected to start to decline from mid-July. Farmers said frequent spells of sunshine spells would be needed in the next few weeks to ensure a healthy harvest. Wet weather has attracted insects to the plantations and some pods have been rotting on the trees of farms where there is insufficient place to store the beans. "The beans will be ruined before our eyes. It has become difficult to work.

Abundant and regular rains last week in Ivory Coast's cocoa growing regions raised concerns of crop damage, although conditions were good for the development of the mid-crop elsewhere, farmers said on Monday. The marketing season for the April-to-September mid-crop officially opened on April 1 and harvesting is accelerating rapidly. Farmers in most regions said the weather conditions should allow strong output into July. In the western region of Duekoue, farmers said they were concerned about crop damage as it had rained almost the entire week, leading to flooding in some areas. "The rain has come down hard. There was flooding in some parts and some houses collapsed," said farmer and cooperative manager Amara Kone.