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Ivorian Cocoa Harvesting Picks Up After Election Unrest

Ivorian Cocoa Harvesting Picks Up After Election Unrest

Ivory Coast’s cocoa crops are benefiting from good weather and harvesting is picking up after the presidential election disrupted some farming activities.

Moist soil in the south is helping pods to develop and farmers are happy with the mix of rain and sunshine in western areas. Unrest following the Oct. 31 vote had led to road blockades, temporarily disrupting supplies to ports in the world’s top producer.

“Everything is picking up gradually, but the farmers are still wary and cautious, because the situation remains volatile,” said Ibrahim Sawadogo, a grower in the southern town of Akoupe.

Ivorian farmers sent 103,579 tons of cocoa to ports last week, up about 32% from a week earlier, according to a person familiar with government data. Arrivals had fallen in the previous week.

Elsewhere in West Africa, dry weather returned to Ghana after rains last month relieved parched fields, while harvesting continued in Nigeria.

Ivorian Cocoa Harvesting Picks Up After Election Unrest

Ghana Dryness

There were no rains in the past week despite cloudy conditions, and farmers hope for consistent showers in the coming days to aid the recovery of trees, said David Soffo, a grower in Yakasi-Newtown on the southwestern border with Ivory Coast.

Cameroon Activity

Farmers are using a break in rains in Cameroon’s center production area to carry out fieldwork such as picking pods or using chemicals on crops, said Pocherie Tchaline, owner of a plantation in Ntui, north of Yaounde.

Nigerian Harvest

Farmers are now harvesting heavily and many trees have ripe pods, while trees that have just been cropped have fresh flowers, said Moses Mailafia, who farms near Takum in Taraba state in the southeast.

In the southwest, the main-crop harvest that began last month is still ongoing, although last week’s round of harvesting wasn’t big in volume, according to Ismail Aderogba, a farmer near Akure in Ondo state.

Ivorian Cocoa Harvesting Picks Up After Election Unrest

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.