Below-average rain sufficient for Ivory Coast cocoa crop, farmers say

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions received below-average rainfall last week but farmers on Monday said it was sufficient to boost development of the next October-to-March main crop.  

The world's top cocoa producer is in its rainy season, which runs from April to mid-November.

Most farmers said they were waiting for a new farmgate price to be set on Monday before selling their stocks of beans.

In the western region of Soubre and in southern region of Divo, where rains were above average last week, but also in the southern region of Agboville and in the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were below average, farmers said more pods were ready to be harvested next month than in the same period last season.

However, farmers also voiced fears that heavy rainfall in October could damage bean quality.

"The plantations now need plenty of sunshine and average rainfall, otherwise there will be crop losses," said Salame Kone, who farms near Soubre, where 33.3 millimetres (mm) fell last week, 12.9 mm above the five-year average.  

     In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were below average last week, farmers said main crop harvesting would be significant in October and gradually increase until December.

"There are more and more workers on the plantations for harvesting because there's so much cocoa," said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa, where 27.8 mm of rain fell last week, 1.8 mm below the five-year average.

Average temperatures across Ivory Coast ranged from 24.7 to 26.6 degrees Celsius.

($1 = 585.2200 CFA francs)

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and David Goodman)