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Prolonged Dry Spell May Cut Cameroon Cocoa Output: Farmers
By Tansa Musa
24/08/2013
YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Months of dry, cool weather in Cameroon's cocoa-producing Centre, South and East regions have sparked fears of a drop in production in the recently opened 2013/14 season, farmers said on Friday.
The cocoa season in Cameroon, the world's fifth largest producer, runs from August 1 to July 31, with the main harvest period from October to January/February and the light crop harvest from April/May to July.
The rainy season in the Centre, South and East, which together account for around 60 percent of national output, typically runs from mid-March to mid-October.
However farmers there complained that rains tapered off as early as June this year.
"Our plants are not flowering as much as before and the young pods produced on some plants are drying and falling off because of a lack of rainfall," said Emmanuel Nguile, a major cocoa farmer in Bafia in the Centre Region.
Some 40 percent of Cameroon's cocoa comes from the Centre Region.
"In a long time we've not witnessed this kind of dramatic climate change. This is not a good sign for coming production," said Nguile, who is also vice-president of the 53,000-member ONPCCC farmers' association.
December cocoa futures on ICE were up $3 or 0.1 percent at $2,457 a tonne on Friday, consolidating below a 9-month high of $2,547 reached on Tuesday amid concerns linked to poor weather in West African producing countries.
December cocoa in London edged down 1 pound to 1,628 pounds a tonne, below the 11-month high hit on Tuesday of 1,673 pounds a tonne.
Cameroon produced a record 240,000 tonnes in the 2010/11 season, but output dropped to 220,000 tonnes the following year partly due to a prolonged dry season. Production rose only slightly to 227,000 tonnes in the recently ended 2012/13 season.
"We've never witnessed these strange weather conditions at this time of the year. It's cloudy most of the day and in the evening cold and dry," said Essian Efa, a farmer in Ebolwa in the South Region where 15 percent of Cameroon's cocoa is grown.
"As a result, the plants are not flowering as usual. Those that flower a bit develop young pods which soon dry and fall off the plant because of the lack of rainfall," he said.
Similar conditions were reported in the East Region, which produces around 5 percent of the country's cocoa.
Meanwhile farmers in the South-West Region, which produces around 40 percent of Cameroon's cocoa and typically sees regular heavy showers from February through October, complained of too much rain.
They said they were struggling to dry harvested beans. And they worried that the heavy downpours could further damage dirt roads already in poor condition, making it more difficult to transport cocoa from remote areas to trading centres.
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