ABIDJAN: Rain was scarce across Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions for the second week in a row, farmers said Monday, sparking fears that the April-to-September mid-crop could tail off towards the end of June.

Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, is in its rainy season, which runs from April to mid-November, but the usual heavy downpours have been absent this month.

Farmers said the heat and an enduring dry spell could irreparably hinder the development of smaller pods.

“It is very hot and it isn’t raining enough. Many small pods won’t mature,” said Albert N’Zue, who farms in the centre-western region of Daloa.

Only 14.2 millimetres (mm) of rain fell in Daloa last week, 10.7 mm below the five-year average, data collected by Reuters showed.

In the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rainfall was also far below average, farmers said the lack of moisture had crippled the growth of new leaves and prevented the flowering necessary for an abundant mid-crop.

Rain was also sparse in the western region of Soubre at the heart of the cocoa belt, the southern region of Agboville and in the eastern region of Abengourou.

Farmers in those regions fear a potentially drastic fall in harvesting from late June onwards, pointing to the poor development of smaller pods compared to last year.

“The dry season is getting long compared to last year. There will be little cocoa from the bush from the second half of June,” said Kouassi Kouame, who farms near Soubre, where rainfall was 15.9 mm below average.

There was, however, one area that reported decent rainfall. It rained 35.5 mm in the southern region of Divo this week, 1.1 mm above the average.