Nigeria's 2005 midcrop cocoa seen at 50,000 tons or more

Nigeria's midcrop cocoa production between April and August will be at least 50,000 tons or higher because of the good rainfall and weather in the southwestern region, according to forecasts Friday by officials and traders.

"There will be a higher output of the midcrop this year especially as a result of the good rainfall in the region. The rain began early and it's being evenly spread in the region," an anonymous official of the National Cocoa Development Committee ( NCDC) told Xinhua.

Nigeria normally produces 40,000-45,000 tons of the midcrop cocoa a year. Its harvest usually starts in April and ends in July or August.

The midcrop, one of the two cocoa crops, is usually smaller in size. The other cocoa crop, main crop, is bigger in size harvested between September and February with an output of about 180,000 tons in Nigeria.

The NCDC official said this year's midcrop harvest began earlier in March because of last year's late rainfall and the early showers this year.

The southwest cocoa belt, including the states of Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, accounts for 70 percent of Nigeria's cocoa production of 242,000 tons a year.

A trader in Ile-Ife, Osun state, said the volume of mid-crop harvest so far has been high in the state, better than expected for this time of the year.

The trader said some buyers were already getting about five tons of midcrop cocoa a week and added he expected midcrop production this year to be at least 50,000 tons or even higher.

The Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) in Umuahia, capital of southeast Abia state, also said midcrop cocoa has developed well in the southeast cocoa belt due to the early rainfall there.

Source: Xinhua