Ivory Coast's unseasonal rains expected to strengthen cocoa crop

Unseasonal rains in Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions last week are expected to help the October-to-March main crop finish strongly, farmers said on Monday.

The world's top cocoa producer is in its dry season, which runs from mid-November to March, when downpours are scarce. But farmers said recent rains had improved prospects for cocoa trees to reach their maximum potential in February and March.

"It is raining heavily. This is very good for the rest of the (marketing) campaign," said Edouard Bogui, who farms near the western region of Soubre, which recorded 25.3 millimetres of rain last week, 21 mm above the five-year average.

While farmers expect harvesting to start to slow from mid-January, they said there would be more beans and of better quality in February and March than the same time last season.

In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were above average, farmers said significant volumes of beans would continue to leave the bush until late March.

"There will be no sudden interruption in harvesting until March because there are still enough pods on the trees," said Etienne Kanga, who farms near Daloa, where 11.1 mm of rain fell last week, 8.9 mm above the five-year average.

In the southern regions of Agboville and Divo and in the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were well above average, farmers said the weather was contributing to healthy crop development, creating a high availability of beans.

Farmers said that from mid-January they would start to focus on the development of the April-to-September mid-crop.

Weekly average temperatures across Ivory Coast last week ranged from 27.7 to 30.7 degrees Celsius (81.86 to 87.26 degrees Fahrenheit).