Ivory Coast crops threatened by drought
Ivory Coast crops threatened by drought
(The Post News)- On Monday, farmers from Ivory Coast said they haven’t received rainfall for while now in its main cocoa regions, further raising concerns that the dry weather has the potential to damage bean quality and have supply tightened from February.
According to the farmers, there were enough pods on trees to be harvested in January, but from February the October-to-March main crop would start to fall off. They also say that good rains are needed to trigger more flowering and yo help them turn into small pods for a strong start if the mid-crop in April. Farmers will soon commence on monitoring the development of the April-to-September mid-crop from January.
Farmers said they were concerned by the weather because the west-central of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro did not encounter any rainfall in the past week as well.
It is said that the intensity of the dry Harmattan wind had fallen in comparison with the previous week, according to the farmers in those regions. This wind typically sweeps in from the Sahara desert between December and March, which can dry the soil and harm cocoa, consequently making them smaller.
The farmers in the Western region of Soubre in the southern regions of Agnoville and Divo and in the eastern region of Abengourou, where it didn’t rain last week say that should plantations receive a good rainfall every 10 days in January, it could improve the yield and quality of beans from February.
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