Cash-strapped Ivorian farmers struggle to ready next cocoa crop

[May 13, 2015]  By Loucoumane Coulibaly

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Poor weather has resulted in a small, low-quality cocoa crop in several of Ivory Coast's top growing regions, cutting farmers' earnings and leaving them struggling to prepare for next season, they said on Wednesday.

The world's top grower is now in its April-to-September mid-crop and port arrivals are seen outpacing last year's record harvest.

However, farmers in the Daloa, San Pedro, Bouafle and Abengourou regions complained that their output has fallen dramatically this season due to a harsher-than-usual dry season and a strong Harmattan weather phenomenon.

"On a three-hectare plantation last year we'd already have six 70-kilogramme sacks of good-quality beans. This year we don't even have half that," said farmer and cooperative manager Attoungbre Kouame in Daloa.

Daloa typically produces around a quarter of Ivory Coast's national output.

Cocoa growers typically prepare plantations for the following season's October-to-March main crop in June and July. Farmers recruit laborers, apply pesticides and anti-fungal treatments and purchase fertilisers to boost yields.

But as farmers approach this crucial period in the four regions, they said they are short of cash and, with few mid-crop pods expected to be ready to harvest in the coming weeks, have few prospects for raising funds in time.

"If there's no money to prepare the plantations now, we'll have to worry about disease at the start of the main crop and big losses," said Labbe Zoungrana, who farms near San Pedro.

The coastal region was among the hardest hit by this year's dry conditions, which farmers say reduced the main crop harvest and delayed the start of the mid-crop there.

"We haven't had this kind of drought in five years. There is very little harvesting right now," Zoungrana said.

The Abengourou region and other areas along Ivory Coast's eastern border with No.2 producer Ghana have also struggled this season with low volumes and small bean size.

"There is just a bit of cocoa, but we are losing a lot of money because we have to sort our beans in order to gather the big ones," said N’Dri Kouao, a farmer and cooperative manager from Niable on the Ghanaian border.

Ivory Coast's eastern cocoa-growing regions are generally known for the high quality of their beans.

"It's hard to sell beans and I think it will be difficult for many of us to get ready for the main crop," Kouao said.

(Editing by Joe Bavier and Dale Hudson)

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