Abidjan, September 1, 2008 - Rains kept up in the main cocoa growing areas of top producer Ivory Coast last week, encouraging good main crop development, but poor sunshine in some parts encouraged the spread of fungal black pod disease, farmers said.
Seasonal rains often tend to lighten up in August, giving way to increased sunny spells that help reduce the humidity that encourages fungal development, but farmers said heavy rains had kept going longer than usual this year in many areas.
"It is still raining and there is not enough sunshine. That isn't good for the cocoa because it encourages black pod," said Oumar Ouedraogo, who farms on the outskirts of the western town of Gagnoa.
"This year there is a lot of black pod compared to last year. If you have 20 well-developed pods on a tree, around 10 of them are showing signs of black pod. It's bad," he said.
"Farmers are getting worried now and are hoping for more sunshine this month to control the disease," he said.
With the April-September mid crop harvest tailing off farmers are looking forward to the October-March main crop, which accounts for the majority of Ivory Coast's annual harvest.
In the eastern region of Abengourou, near the border of Ghana, the world's second largest cocoa producer, farmers said it had rained practically all week.
"It has rained almost all week long, and the sun has not shone," said farmer Joseph Amani.
"Black pod is attacking big, ripe pods -- it's a real threat. Farmers are worried so they are going round their plantations every two days cutting off infected pods to stop others being contaminated," Amani said.
"There are a lot of flowers and cherelles (small pods) on the trees. We hope September and October will be less humid and sunnier to allow them to develop well," he said.
Farmers in other areas said they had sunny spells between showers, encouraging good pod development.
"The rain is continuing. We had four light rainfalls last week interspersed with sunshine, which is good," said farmer Marcel Aka, whose farm is near Daloa.
There are lots of pods on the trees. Some plantations have already started to harvest, and if the weather stays good until the end of September we will be harvesting until the end of December or beyond," he said.
Farmers also reported light rains mixed with sunny spells in the western regions of Meagui and Bouafle, the coastal regions of Sassandra and San Pedro, and the southern regions of Agboville and Aboisso.