But weeks of sustained rains and sunshine will help trees grow and lead to a longer harvest, farmers said. "We have rain and the sunshine is getting better. We think there will be a lot of cocoa this year," said Salame Kone, who farms in the outskirts of Soubre, echoing optimism among other farmers in the western region at the heart of the cocoa belt. "There will be plenty of harvests in the coming weeks as the number of pods growing is going up a lot," he added.
Data collected by Reuters showed rainfall in Soubre, which includes the regions of San Pedro and Sassandra, was 19.2 millimetres (mm) last week, 1.3 mm above the five-year average. Rains were above average and good growing conditions were reported in the western region of Man, in the southern region of Divo and in the eastern region of Abengourou. In the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, rains were below average but farmers said output was expected to be higher than last year's, as pods on trees were growing rapidly.