Rains, sunny spells boost Ivorian cocoa crop

Abundant rains punctuated by sunny spells last week in most of Ivory Coast's key cocoa regions have boosted the main crop, but heavy rains in some areas have prevented harvesting and may damage quality by preventing proper drying, farmers said on Monday. Harvesting of the 2011/12 cocoa main crop (October-March) is underway and farmers in western regions said they were expecting a healthy main crop, even compared with last season.
In the western region of Man, traditionally known for its coffee, farmers said the weather was good and new cocoa farms have started to come on tap, some of them on former coffee plantations that switched to cocoa a couple of years ago. "It's raining a lot. The weather is very favourable to cocoa here," said farmer Adama Bakayoko. "During the political crisis, a lot of planters switched their farmers from coffee to cocoa. There's more money in it." In the western region of Duekoue, farmers said several downpours boded well for the development of the main crop and would extend harvesting for a longer period. "We know we're going to have cocoa of good quality and in abundance until December," said farmer Amara Kone. "But after that, from January to March, isn't yet clear - it will depend on how brutal the dry season is."