Rainy weather punctuated by occasional bursts of sunshine in Ivory Coast's principal cocoa regions last week had mixed results on the last stage of the mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
The mid-crop in Ivory Coast, which runs from April to September, is tailing off. Farmers say they needs rainfall to decrease and to see more sun to strengthen the development of pods to be harvested until September, farmers said.
In the eastern region of Abengourou, along the Ghanaian border, analysts reported 63.5 millimetres last week compared with 22 millimetres the previous week.
Farmers said the high humidity and the cloudy weather had raised concerns about the fungal black pod disease further spreading in plantations. They said the scale of the disease was not alarming for the moment but if nothing was done the mid-crop would be smaller compared with last year.
Farmers added they were promised chemicals by the Coffee and Cocoa committee management that would help them to step fight against cocoa diseases.
"There's less cocoa on the trees. There's no sun. It's worrying because black pod is present. It's a bit worrying because as soon as it shows, it tends to spread," said farmer Pascal N'Dri who farms in the outskirts of Abengourou.
"A lot of farmers have been promised pesticides from the cocoa management committee. If they come through, that will help us a lot." In the south-eastern region of Aboisso, an analyst reported 169.3 millimetres of rain compared with 122.4 millimetres the previous week. Farmers said rains were heavy and beside diseases they feared plantations flooding. "It continues to rain a lot. Going to the field is difficult. There are floods in some areas and we can't get to our plantations," said farmer Etienne Yao.