Moussa Konate is an optimist tempering hope with caution after a season in which his cocoa crop was ravaged by disease.
The outlook is brightening on his tiny Ivory Coast farm, where the October harvest is approaching fast. His trees are bearing abundant pods and the leaves are a healthy green.
That happy state reflects improvements across the West African cocoa belt that could help relieve a massive supply shortage that propelled prices to record highs this year. Alongside better weather, the 47-year old has finally received pesticides to help reduce the harm done by swollen shoot disease, and expects yields to be significantly higher than the single ton he gathered last season.
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