ADZOPÉ, Ivory Coast—In the central clearing of a steep-sloped cocoa plantation, surrounded by trees dripping with fat green pods ... of the world’s cocoa beans, the law will also apply ...

Rains were scarce in most of top grower Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions last week and more are needed to boost the ...

The cacao trees mature at five years and begin to flower on the trunk. The flowers are pollinated by midges, a small fly.

The beans are then removed from the pods with their surrounding pulp. Workers fill sacks with cocoa beans in Kahin village at the edge of the Scio forest reserve in Duekoue, Ivory Coast.

FILE - Cocoa pods are seen at a cocoa farm in Daloa ... it said. Large quantities of cocoa beans were illegally transported ...

The Harmattan wind, which usually sweeps in from the Sahara desert between December and March, can dry the soil and harm cocoa pods ... yield and the quality of beans from February.