Traders have bemoaned the persistent cloudy weather in Nigeria’s south-west cocoa-growing region, which has slowed drying of harvested beans resulting in higher-than-normal levels of mold.

Managing Director of Oyebanjo Ventures Limited, a cocoa-buying company, Najeem Bakare said: “The lack of sunshine is not allowing for the proper drying of the harvested crop.

“Beans from the region are showing mold levels of about 20 per cent and “exporters are rejecting them,” he said.

Mold in beans for export are acceptable when less than five per cent, according to the International Cocoa Organisation. Other parts of the south-west, which accounts for 70 per cent of Nigeria’s production, have reported mold levels ranging from 12 per cent in Ile Ife town to 15 per cent in Ile Oluji, which has experienced incessant rain in recent days.

Nigeria is the world’s largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia with a government-estimated output of 350,000 metric tons in the 2013-2014 seasons. The ICCO estimates Nigeria’s output at 240,000 tons for the same period.

The affected beans are mainly early main-crop cocoa, whose season is set to officially start from October, according to the Secretary of the Cocoa Farmers’ Association in Edo state,Aminu Yakubu.

“Unfortunately, most of the beans are robust and in the 290 grams (10.22 ounces) and 300 grams bean-count range,” he said by phone the state capital Benin City.

As many as 1,000 tons of beans have been rejected by exporters, forcing some farmers to leave ripened cocoa pods on the trees while awaiting more liberal sunshine, according to Muri Adeniji, an official of Lagos-based cocoa-exporter Starlink Global Ltd.