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CÔTE D’IVOIRE’S MAIN COCOA HARVEST TO START EARLY

Below-average rainfall last week in most of the top grower Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa regions is expected to boost the development of the upcoming main crop, with harvesting estimated to begin early.

Farmers across the country said they were preparing to start harvesting this week ahead of the October-to-March main crop.

According to the farmers, pods were ripening on trees, boosted by high soil moisture content from the ongoing rainy season.

The quality and size of the harvest will be satisfactory until November, but continued rainfall will be needed in September and October to extend that to December, they said.

Many farmers are preparing for the harvest. We are going to start slowly, but it will pick up in a few weeks.

Salame Kone, farmer in the western region of Soubre

Data collected by Reuters showed rainfall in Soubre at 9.6 mm last week, 5.4 mm below the five-year average.

In the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, southern parts of Agboville and Divo, and the eastern part of Abengourou, farmers said they were happy with crop development and expected to earn more money than last season if the good weather continued.

In the centre-western region of Daloa, which accounts for a quarter of national output, farmers said they needed more sunshine. They predicted the first beans from the main crop would be available by late August or early September.

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