Effects of Length of Monsoon Drought on the Annual Yield of Cocoa in Akure, Southwestern Nigeria

The period of drought during monsoon months (June-September) sometimes known as “August Break” usually provides opportunities for harvesting and other farm-level processing activities in the humid and sub-humid agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. This is particularly so for cocoa, a major crop grown in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the impacts of length of monsoon drought on the annual yield of cocoa in Akure. Daily rainfall data and annual yield of cocoa covering the period 2004-2018 were obtained from the Ondo State Ministry of Agriculture, Akure and analysed. Results showed that rainfall was highest in July, contributing about 28%, while December contributed the least (<1%). Moreover, highest annual cocoa yield was recorded in the year 2004 (7998 tons) and the least (1506 tons) was in 2017, while the longest and shortest of monsoon drought were 28 and 3 days in 2005 and 2008, respectively. There was high variability and declining trends in both annual yield of cocoa and length of monsoon drought during the period under study. Given the slope of the regression equation and the R2 values (172.16 and 0.48, respectively) obtained, it was concluded that length of monsoon drought was a major factor determining the annual yield of cocoa in Akure. Consequently, for increasing yield, optimum use of the period of monsoon drought for important cultural practices, including application of fungicides to reduce the spread of black pod diseases, timely pod harvesting and bean processing, amongst others, are recommended.