El Nino could cut I.Coast cocoa production by up to a quarter

Cocoa production in Ivory Coast, the world's leading producer, could fall by up to a quarter due to the exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon, meteorologists warned in a note seen by AFP Tuesday.

El Nino warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds and rainfall patterns, on top of man-made global warming.

It is expected to peak in December but the human impact of its associated extreme temperatures, floods and droughts is set to last into 2027 and beyond.

Ivory Coast's public meteorology body, Sodexam, said it estimated that the climate episode would lead to lower rainfall, higher temperatures and a longer dry season in the west African country.

A water deficit and high temperatures may cut cocoa production "in the order of 21 percent to 25 percent" because of the shrivelling and premature drop of young pods and defoliation of trees, it said in a note notably for the Ivorian government.

The lower production could result in "a colossal loss of income for growers" and in a decline in the state's export revenues, it added.

The country is responsible for nearly 40 percent of global cocoa output, while the crop accounts for 15 percent of GDP, supporting roughly five million people in a country of more than 33 million.

Ivorian scientists have been working to develop a cocoa bean tough enough to survive the unpredictable weather events that man-made climate change has unleashed around the globe.

They are working on bean varieties that need less water.