ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Farmers in some of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions are concerned about the impact of the strong Harmattan wind on the cocoa crop as it can dry the soil and harm cocoa pods.
The seasonal Harmattan wind, which usually sweeps in from the Sahara Desert between December and March, was blowing hard last week while rains were mainly below average, farmers told Reuters.
The world’s top cocoa producer is in its dry season that runs from mid-November to March, when rainfall is low.
The farmers said that there were enough pods on cocoa trees to harvest until late January after which harvesting would fall sharply.
In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central region of Yamoussoukro, where no rain fell last week, and in the central region of Bongouanou, where rainfall was weak, farmers said they were concerned by the dry weather.
They said if the Harmattan wind remained strong during the next two weeks and there was still no good rainfall, leaves would start to dry, weakening cocoa trees and lowering the cocoa outlook.
“There is no rain and if the Harmattan remains strong, tree yields will be low from February onwards,” said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa, where no rain fell last week, 3.7 millimetres (mm) below the five-year average.
Farmers also said buyers were looking for more beans to fulfil their contracts before the end of the year so they were offering to pay above the farmgate price of 1,800 CFA francs ($2.88) per kg.
However, in the western region of Soubre and in the southern region of Divo, where rains were weak, and in the southern region of Agboville and the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were well above average, farmers said growing conditions were good despite the wind.
“We’ve had enough rain. It will help trees produce cocoa from February onwards,” said Roger Koffi, who farms near Abengourou, where 30.1 mm of rain fell last week, 23.2 mm above the five-year average.
Average temperatures across the West African country last week ranged from 24.2 to 28.3 degrees Celsius.
($1 = 625.0000 CFA francs)
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly.; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and Jane Merriman)
