Regular rains are needed from May in most of Côte d'Ivoire's main cocoa-growing regions to help the April-to-September mid-crop finish strong, farmers said on Monday after receiving below-average rains last week.
The world's top cocoa producer is in its rainy season, which runs officially from April to mid-November. Rains are usually abundant during this time.
Farmers said cocoa beans would be of small size until late July, adding that small pods that will be harvested from mid-August to late September were already on trees.
The month of May will be crucial for the final size of the mid-crop, farmers said, adding that they hoped to see more rains that would boost the quality of the crop.
'Encouraging'
In the central region of Yamoussoukro, where no rain fell last week, farmers said growing conditions were encouraging.
"We had heavy rain all morning on Sunday. It's very good for cocoa plantations," Andre N’Zi, who farms near Yamoussoukro, said.
Data collected by Reuters showed there was also no rain in the west-central region of Daloa, which is 21.6 mm below the five-year average.
Meanwhile, in the central region of Bongouanou 1.5 mm of rain fell last week, 21.9 mm below the average.
'Plenty of rain'
Rains were below average in the western region of Soubre, in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, and in the eastern region of Abengourou.
Farmers from these areas said the pods that will be harvested until early July were already well developed and they were expecting the last stage of the mid-crop in August and September to be large.
"The sunshine is good at the moment. We need plenty of rain to finish off the mid-crop," said Sylvain Lobouet, who farms near Soubre, where 4.9 mm fell last week, 19 mm below the five-year average.
The weekly average temperature ranged from 28.7 to 32.2 degrees Celsius.
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