Nigeria Cocoa Midcrop Yield Seen at 25-Year Low on Weather
- Farmers reporting output decline of as much as 70 percent
- Cocoa crop hurt by prolonged dry spell early this year
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Nigeria’s cocoa midcrop output is seen falling by as much as 70 percent this year from the previous season after unfavorable weather took a toll on the crop earlier in 2016, farmers said.
“This season’s midcrop harvest is the worst we have witnessed in the last 25 years,” Rufus Orosundafosi, a cocoa farmer, said by phone from the southwest cocoa-growing hub of Idanre that accounts for about 25 percent of the country’s production. “We will not get up to 30 percent of last year’s midcrop yield.”