ACCRA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Heavy rains in Ghana have spurred the spread of the fungal disease black pod, especially in western regions bordering Ivory Coast, but the world's second largest cocoa producer still expects higher output this year.
A small 2006/2007 harvest finished abysmally with the mid crop, due to a lack of rain earlier this year.
Although heavy downpours in recent months have raised hopes of a strong 2007/08 main crop, due to open in early October, they also nurtured the fungal blight.
"There is already damage, if there is visible damage by now, then it is bad. I am very worried. We haven't seen this much rain in September in a long time," one buyer said.
Torrential rains across West Africa have affected more than 100,000 people, according to the United Nations. The rains destroyed homes, damaged crops and polluted water sources.
Unless the rain eases and the sun starts to shine, more cocoa pods will bear the tell-tale black splodges of the fungal disease, growers say.
The fungus has already ruined thousands of cocoa pods in war-divided Ivory Coast, the world's no.1 cocoa grower.
Black pod is most severe in Ghana's Western Region which borders Ivory Coast, one of the country's most productive cocoa-growing areas, one buyer said. But the disease did not alter his forecast for a total 2007/08 crop of 740,000 tonnes.
Others named Akaatiso and Sefwi Kaase in western Ghana as areas hit hard by the disease.
"There is black pod. It is worse than what we usually have but not as bad as in Ivory Coast," said another industry expert.
BIGGER CROP
Industry regulator Cocobod chief executive Isaac Osei said last week that heavy rainfall should mean the coming harvest is bigger than the 2006/07 crop, which is unlikely to exceed 620,000 tonnes and far below the previous year's record output of about 740,000 tonnes.
In Nyinahin, in Ashanti region, one depot manager answered his phone from a farm where he had taken government sprayers.
"We have asked the mass sprayers to intensify so it will not spread. The situation is not alarming," he said, adding that the coming year's output should still exceed the current year's.
But government-sponsored mass spraying effort is haphazard and on some farms, they may be too late.
"Black pod is a problem, especially in the low lying areas," one buyer said. "When they do the spraying, they do some farms and leave others they classify as low risk areas."
Cocobod deputy chief executive Charles Ntim declined to comment on the prevalence of black pod, telling Reuters they will receive a detailed field report this week.
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