Ivory Coast farmers expect healthy cocoa harvest until at least late December
ABIDJAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) -Light rains mixed with sunny spells in Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions last week helped to strengthen the October-to-March main crop, which is expected to be abundant until at least late December, farmers said on Monday.
The world's top cocoa producer is heading towards its dry season which runs from mid-November to March, when downpours are scarce.
Rains have been below average for the last several weeks. Meanwhile, sunny spells helped beans to dry properly and to ward off disease.
Cocoa trees are carrying many big pods at the moment, farmers said, adding that beans would leave the bush between November and December.
They also said that harvesting in January would be better than in the previous season considering that many small pods were on trees.
"A lot of beans are coming out of the bush. Large volumes of the main crop will be released this month and in December," said Kouassi Kouame, who farms near the western region of Soubre, where 14.5 millimetres (mm) of rain fell last week, 8.1 mm below the five-year average.
In the southern regions of Agboville and Divo and in the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were below average last week, farmers said the sunny weather was helping to produce beans of good quality.
In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were also below average, farmers said more downpours would be needed from the second half of November until early December to improve the size and the quality of beans.
"If we get good rain from mid-November onwards, there will be no sudden interruption in harvesting from January onwards," said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa, where 0.8 mm of rain fell last week, 11.6 mm below the five-year average.
Average temperatures across Ivory Coast ranged from 27.1 to 28 degrees Celsius.
Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and Susan Fenton
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