Rain Boosts Cocoa In Ghana

Rains were mainly below average last week in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa-growing regions, but plenty of small and average pods were developing well for a strong start to the October-to-March main crop, farmers said on Monday.

According to Reuters, Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, is in its April-to-October rainy season and several farmers said they were happy with the level of downpours but more sunny spells would be needed to strengthen the crop.

In the centre-western region of Daloa, which produces a quarter of national output, farmers said there was no longer a danger that trees carrying plenty of fruit would be damaged in the next two months.
“The trees have yielded well. Harvesting will start very slowly from the end of this month,” said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa.

Farmers from across the cocoa belt agreed. They said a mix of sun and rain from mid-August would help.

Data collected by Reuters showed rainfall in Daloa was at 19.3 millimetres (mm), 4.3 mm below the five-year average.