ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Above average rainfall recorded in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa producing regions boosted farmers’ hopes of higher output in the ongoing October to March season.
Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, is in its rainy season that officially runs from April to mid-November.
Farmers said the rainfall was helping pods to develop ahead of next year’s harvest. More cocoa beans have been harvested than last year, those farmers said, although some expressed concern overcast skies could affect their quality.
“We are starting well,” Innocent Adiane, a farmer in the eastern region of Abengourou, said. “We have plenty of cocoa beans, but we need sunshine to dry them out properly.”
In the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, which also recorded above average rains, farmers expressed similar concerns.
In the western region of Soubre, where rains were below average, some farmers reported a river overflowed and flooded their crops.
Farmers and cooperative members told Reuters demand was high as buyers sought good quality beans, while buyers said they expected to fulfil their contracts for the year ahead of time.
In the centre-western region of Daloa and in the central region of Yamoussoukro, where rains were below average last week, while they were above average in the central region of Bongouanou, farmers also reported promising cocoa output and sales at the farmgate price of 1,800 CFA per kilogram set for the 2024/25 season.
“We will have a lot of money this season,” said Julien Aka, who farms near the Bongouanou region, where 37.9 millimetres (1.49 inches) fell last week, 12.9 mm above the average.
The weekly average temperature ranged from 24.2 degrees Celsius to 26.9 degrees Celsius (75.56°F to 80.42°F).
(Reporting Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Jessica Donati and Barbara Lewis)
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