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ABIDJAN,  (Reuters) – More sunny spells across most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions will help to boost development of the next October-to-March main crop, farmers said on Monday, adding that cold weather continued last week with below-average rainfall.

The world’s largest cocoa producer is in the middle of the rainy season, which runs from April to mid-November.

A heavy morning dew and light rains last week allowed crops to grow, farmers said, adding that they hoped for more sunshine.

“There is still a cold spell. The crops need more heat,” said Kouassi Kouame, who farms near the western region of Soubre, where 1.7 millimetres (mm) of rain fell last week, 10.3 mm below the five-year average.

However, the main crop was developing well, farmers said. Some big pods were almost ripe and could be harvested from mid-August to late September, they added.

Farmers in coastal and southern regions said they expected to harvest more pods in September than in the same month last year.

In the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, where rains were below average, and in the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were above average, farmers said they were satisfied with many small and average pods that would allow the crop to be abundant from October until December at least.

Farmers there said a good mix of rainfall and sun from September to late October would help the crop to last until January and February.

In the west-central region of Daloa and in the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rains were well below average, farmers said many small and average pods were developing well.

Farmers said there was no sign of damage from the cold spell at the moment, but there needs to be more sunshine from next week.

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“We will have a lot of cocoa in the coming weeks. But we need more sunshine to dry the beans properly,” said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa, where 2.5 mm of rain fell last week, 18.3 mm below the five-year average.

Weekly average temperatures across Ivory Coast last week ranged from 24 to 26.8 degrees Celsius (75.2 to 80.24 degrees Fahrenheit).

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and David Goodman)