World’s top Cocoa producer above-average precipitations in most of Ivory Coast’s major Cocoa Germinating Provinces

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

Photo Credit: Fsg.org

NEW AFRICA BUSINESS NEWS (NABN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- ..as a result of this drizzle, this has enabled to bolster the growth of small and middle pods of the October-to-March main crop.

Harvesting was taking the yield up and more trucks were packing beans in villages, farmers said, counting that most of the main crops would leave the bush from mid-November to late January. Plentiful of small pods were seeming on trees, said farmers from the center-western region of Daloa and the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were above average. They added that the harvest will be abundant in February and March if it continues to rain until late November.

“We’re starting to get a lot of cocoa and the conditions are being put in place for a long and abundant (main crop) season,” said Benjamin Dje, a farmer on the outskirts of Daloa, where 30.9 millimeters (mm) felt last week, 7.7 mm above the five-year average.

In the Western region of Soubre, in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo and in the Eastern region of Abengourou, where rainfall was likewise above average, farmers warned that weather conditions were not allowing cocoa beans to dry properly.

“It rains regularly. It’s hard to get the cocoa out. When it comes out, it’s moldy,” said Eugene Kassi, who farms near Abengourou, where 56.8 mm fell last week, 25 mm above the average.

For New Africa Business News (NABN) Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent