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Ivory Coast Rainfall Triggers Black Pod Disease, May Curb Cocoa Production
Weeks of heavy rainfall in south- western Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, triggered an outbreak of black pod disease that may curb output of the beans, cocoa farmers and officials said.
Growers in the southwestern Soubre region, which accounts for about quarter of the West African nation’s production, said output had dropped because they lack the means to combat the spread of the disease during the annual rainy season.
The state-owned Fund for Developing and Promoting Coffee and Cocoa Activities this season planned to distribute chemicals to treat 550 hectares (1.36 million acres), of which 225 hectares would also be sprayed with fungicides that tackle black pod, spokesman Patrice Rox said in an interview on July 13.
While it was an improvement from last’s year 200 hectares, “it sometimes arrives too late to be useful and it’s clearly not enough to cover the country’s 3 million hectares, so unfortunately farmers are using precarious methods instead,” such as cutting down trees to prevent the spread of the disease.
Black pod, a fungus that flourishes in damp conditions, causes cocoa pods to turn black and rot. The disease can reduce yields if left untreated. The Ivory Coast produces 36 percent of the world’s cocoa, according to the International Cocoa Organization.
“Those orchards where pods are already ripe will suffer the most,” said Soubre-based farmer Denis Kacou in a July 6 interview at his plantation, gesturing at the sticky, shrivelled pods that indicate black pod. “Production will fall because the rot will affect all the pods.”
‘Invaded by Black Pod’
Blaise Ouraga, a grower in San Pedro in southwest Sassandra, said the “entire region, in particular the Para Grabo region, has been invaded by black pod.”
“Most of us are getting a quarter of normal yields here, because we don’t have the money to pay for fuel to get into town to buy treatments and rent equipment for spraying,” he said.
Other regions further inland haven’t been affected by the disease. The central-western Daloa region is the West African nation’s biggest cocoa-growing area geographically, with average annual production of about 300,000 metric tons.
“Black pod surfaces whenever there is rain,” said Charles N’Guessan at his 45-hectare farm in Daloa. “There’s a worry because there hasn’t been enough rain to water the pods, but at least the disease is in check.”
“This disease has a huge negative impact on the industry,” said Jacques Kouakou, whose co-operative represents 2,500 producers in the Ivory Coast.
‘Cyclical Losses’
“Farmers suffer a loss of revenue so productivity and production fall. The losses are cyclical and impact everyone in the sector.”
Kouakou’s group in Daloa is the world’s first cocoa co- operative to be UTZ-certified, a system aimed at ensuring responsible growing and sourcing of the beans.
Cocoa production in the Ivory Coast is expected to rise to 1.3 million tons in the year through September 2011 as higher prices prompt growers to invest in their farms, the International Cocoa Organization said on July 17.
The West African country produced 1.16 million tons in the 12 months through September 2009, down 16 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics from the country’s Bourse du Cafe et du Cacao.
Ghana, Indonesia and Nigeria are the world’s largest producers of the chocolate ingredient, after the Ivory Coast.
To contact the reporters on this story: Monica Mark in Abidjan via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net
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