Farmers in Cote d’Ivore say above-average rains last week in most of the country’s cocoa regions were good for development of the next October-to-March main crop, but much more moisture could be damaging.

The world’s top cocoa-producing country is in its rainy season from April to mid-November, with farmers reporting unusually heavy rains last week in the western region of Soubre, the southern regions of Agboville and Divo and the eastern region of Abengourou.

Farmers said it was difficult to harvest pods on trees for the mid-crop, and also to dry and store beans after harvesting.

According to Alexandre Boni, who farms near Agboville, the rains were very strong with 128.1 mm of rain fall, 70 mm above the five-year average.

He added that there is also a risk that some fields will be flooded.

In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were also above average, farmers said they were happy because flowers were proliferating on trees for a strong start to the main crop in October.