ABIDJAN, May 8 (Reuters) - Soil moisture offset below average rainfall in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions last week as harvests for the April-to-September mid-crop crop picked up, farmers said on Monday.
The world’s top cocoa producer is in its rainy season, which runs officially from April to mid-November, when rains are abundant and often heavy.
Several farmers said harvests were picking up, as beans meant to be harvested between now and late June were abundant and well-developed.
They said soil moisture was high enough to offset the heat, but noted that more rain was needed to boost harvests in August and September.
"We need more rain to end the mid-crop well," said Kouassi Kouame, who farms near Soubre, where 5.4 millimetres (mm) of rain fell last week, 21.6 mm below the five-year average.
Rain was also below average in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, in the centre-western region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro.
Farmers there said the weather was very hot and that more downpours would help boost pod quality ahead of harvests later in the year.
"Everyone is waiting for good rains to have more high quality cocoa towards the end of the mid-crop," said Robert Assemian, who farms near Daloa, where 12.8 mm fell last week, 9 mm below average.
Rain was above average the eastern region of Abengourou, where farmers said the mid-crop was promising as many lorries were loading up with beans.
Average temperatures ranged between 27.4 and 31.1 degrees Celsius last week. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly Editing by Sofia Christensen and Sharon Singleton)
