LAGOS, March 26, 2011 - A mix of rainfall and sunshine in Nigeria's main cocoa growing regions in the last two months has helped the mid crop develop and lowered the risk of damp-related plant diseases, farmers and buyers said on Friday.
The October-March main crop ends next week and good weather has made Nigerian farmers upbeat that the smaller mid crop, which begins in late April will be robust.
"We had enough rainfall in February and we also had some in the first two weeks of March. So far, indications from the farms are good," Ade Adeshida, a farm manager with an international cocoa exporter, told Reuters.
"If the rains continue that way, there is no reason why the light crop should not be good," Adeshida said by phone from Akure, capital of southwestern Ondo state, which accounts for around 40 percent of Nigeria's cocoa output.
The April-September mid crop in the world's number 4 cocoa grower is also known as the light crop because the beans are lighter in weight and cheaper than the main crop. The mid crop comes in at around 50,000-60,000 tonnes a year.
Farmers and buyers in the second main cocoa growing state of Cross River, which shares the same weather with neighbouring Cameroon, also said their farms saw sporadic rainfall and good sunshine in February and March and expect the crop to be strong.
"We have had a good mix of rainfall and sunshine since last month, this is a sign this year's crop will be better than last," Neji Abang Neji, secretary of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria told Reuters from Calabar, capital of Cross River state.
The showers enhanced soil moisture, enough to sustain trees that are flowering, while the sunny spells helped keep at bay the risk of the fungal black pod disease, which affects 30-40 percent of Nigeria's annual output, growers said.
They said too much rainfall at this stage of the crop would wash away the flowers, meaning the crop will not be plentiful.
The flowers would develop into cherelles (young fruits) by the end of April or early May while the pods would be ripe for harvest after some weeks.
Many Nigerian farmers have been encouraged by record high cocoa prices in recent times to adopt more modern techniques and tend their plantations more closely.
The farmgate price of Nigerian cocoa beans fell 4 percent on average in the last month after the historic high of 550,000 naira ($3,514) a tonne reached in February discouraged buyers, dealers said last week.
But even with the dip, the price was higher than the international market price of cocoa beans.-----
