A plunge in the use of insecticides and anti-fungal treatments on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast ahead of the new season is worrying exporters who fear it will result in poor bean quality in the world's top grower.
Farmers complained that the rising prices of staples including rice, sugar and cooking oil, as well as higher transportation costs have increasingly cut into their earnings and left less money for buying products to treat farms.
| A Cocoa Plant |
However retailers of products used to treat plantations in the West African nation's western cocoa regions said farmers are spending less on maintenance despite the reform's intended goal of encouraging reinvestment in plantations.
"Sales have really plunged. We're talking about a drop of at least 60 to 70 percent compared to the past two years and even then we weren't selling much," said Sylla Bakary, who sells agricultural chemicals and fertiliser in the town of Meagui.
"We should have already sold out. But I still have my stock," he added.
Fertiliser, insecticides and anti-fungal treatments are usually applied in June and July to boost yields and protect the October-to-March main crop from diseases like black pod.
"It's a disaster. The farmers no longer pay for products or do the upkeep on the plantations like before," Djakaridja Keita, a retailer in the town of Soubre, told Reuters.
Exporters said they have seen a steady increase in damage caused by parasites and fungus in recent years that could have been prevented if plantations had been treated.
"There really are more an more pods affected," one San Pedro-based exporter said. "This year for example we were forced to reject a number of deliveries of bad beans, perforated and damaged by caterpillars at the beginning of the season."
During recent visits to plantations around Meagui, Soubre and San Pedro, Reuters noted the pervasive presence of insects, caterpillars and fungus causing damage to both pods and trees.
"If this situation continues you'll see more and more flat and damaged beans and, consequently, lower quality cocoa," said a second exporter.
The exporters, who asked not to be named, said about 10 percent of the beans they were receiving were of poor quality.
RISING COSTS
During the April-to-September mid-crop, when farmers typically purchase products, merchants complaining poor roads added to their transport costs undercut the government's minimum farmer price of 700 CFA francs ($1.42) per kg.
Most growers also blamed the rising prices of the phytosanitary products themselves and the marketing board's failure to distribute them at a reduced cost to farmers.
"One can of insecticide costs at least 6,000 (CFA) per hectare...That's just one treatment, and we should do it twice a year," Felicien Kouame, who farms eight hectares in Touih, 60 km north of San Pedro.
"Then pumping for black pod, that's 8,000 to 9,000 and you have to pay for the machine and the labour on top of it."
Those who have stopped treating their trees recognised the falling quality of beans but said they had no choice.
"Of course we know we shouldn't use damaged beans. But if we don't, we won't have enough volume to sell, and that's money we'll lose," said Laurent Djakale, who farms four hectares in Meagui.
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