Lazare Ake News

Rain mixed with sunny spells last week in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions helped the development of plentiful small pods, suggesting a strong start to the next main crop as the mid-crop tails off, farmers said on Monday. The mid-crop opened on April 1 in the world's top cocoa grower and harvesting traditionally starts to decline from mid-July. The main crop of the 2014-2015 season will begin in October and runs until March. With flowers already proliferating on plantations, farmers said they now were looking for adequate rainfall mixed with sunny spells to allow the development of many of these buds into small pods to boost the upcoming main crop.

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.