Mixed Prospects for Ivorian Cocoa Crops
Ivory Coast weather over the past week indicated mixed prospects for its main cocoa crop, with overcast weather and no rain potentially hurting development of plants in most regions, but good sunny conditions in others. In the world's top cocoa producer, farmers said that sunshine was crucial in this period of development of the main crop to help the growth of flowers and small pods now emerging on trees. The size of the crop will depend on the number of flowers that turn into small pods. The marketing season for the Ivorian mid-crop, which began on April 1, is tailing off, meanwhile. In the western region of Soubre, at the heart of the cocoa belt, farmers reported no rainfall and a lack of sunny spells for a second consecutive week.
Ivory Coast's Abundant Rains Mixed for Cocoa Crop
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.
