West Africa’s cocoa producers are under threat from this year’s El Niño, which threatens to be the worst on record. The weather phenomenon has been known to intensify the yearly Harmattan winds, which dry out topsoil and cause pods to fall. Côte d’Ivoire — the world’s top producer — is expected to see its output slump by around a fifth, Bloomberg reported. El Niño is likely to exacerbate the impact of torrential rains in neighboring Ghana that have damaged crops and increased the prevalence of the plant-killing black pod disease.
The Institute of International Finance warned that cocoa is not the only food product at risk from El Niño, which forecasts suggest will affect Africa’s agricultural sector across the board, through either flooding or drought. Projections suggest the extreme weather patterns will drive food inflation across much of the continent. Many African economies are in a much weaker economic position compared to the strong 2015-2016 El Niño, the IIF report said, largely due to higher oil prices, which have driven up transport costs, and a strong US dollar.
