Most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing regions recorded above average rainfall and regular sunny spells last week, conditions that farmers on Monday said should help bolster the crop from early next year. The season opened on October 1 and farmers are now hoping for enough rainfall in the coming weeks to allow their trees to prepare for the dry season. Rains typically begin to taper off through the month of November.
Data collected by Reuters showed that the average soil moisture content in October was at 447.1 mm, above the five-year average of 432.9 mm but below the 476.1 mm recorded during the same period of last season. "The dry season hasn't really started," said Amadou Diallo, who farms in the outskirts of the southern region of Divo. "There's a lot of harvesting. Beans are being dried and sold on all the plantations."
Divo received 22.6 mm of rainfall over the past week, according to Reuters data 5.9 mm above average. The Soubre region, which also includes Sassandra and San Pedro, recorded 38.1 mm during the week, 20 mm above average. The region of Aboisso, including Abengourou, saw 21.2 mm of precipitation, 2 mm above the average, while Daloa, which produces a quarter of Ivory Coast's national cocoa output, received 6.9 mm, 2.2 mm below average. Temperatures in cocoa regions last week ranged between 26.1 and 28.4 degrees.
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