A drought in the cocoa- growing regions could cause budding pods to wither and harm the 2012-13 harvest.

“The situation is bad, farmers are agitated,” a farmer from the western region told Bloomberg on 19 September. “We have not had proper rains from June to September, the small pods are dying.” Ghana recorded an unprecedented one million metric tonne harvest in the 2010-2011 season, but the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) lowered its prediction for the 2011-2012 harvest to 900,000 tonnes, and its prediction for the 2012-2013 season, which begins in October, to 800,000 tonnes, because of the concerns over bad weather.

Meteorologist Charles York said that the rainy season, which lasts from April to August, saw much less rain than usual and southern Ghana has a 60% chance of below-normal rains for the rest of the year.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2012 Menas Associates