Dry weather threatens Ivory Coast cocoa crop, farmers say

No rain fell last week in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa regions and farmers said on December 30 that the dry weather could damage bean quality and tighten supply from February.

No rain fell last week in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions and farmers said on Monday (December 30, 2024) that the dry weather could damage bean quality and tighten supply from February.

The world's top cocoa producer is in the dry season that runs from mid-November to March, when rainfall is low.

Farmers said there were enough pods on trees to be harvested in January, but from February the October-to-March main crop would start to tail off.

They said they will start monitoring the development of the April-to-September mid-crop from January.

Good rains are needed to trigger more flowering and to help them turn into small pods for a strong start of the mid-crop in April, farmers added.

In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, which had no rainfall last week, farmers said they were concerned by the weather.

"We didn't get a single drop of rain. It's not good for the end of the main crop and the beginning of the mid-crop," said Faustin Konan, who farms near Daloa, where no rain fell last week, which is 3 millimetres (mm) below the five-year average.