IVORY COAST WEATHER NO PROBLEM FOR 1986/87 CROPS Ivory Coast rainfall this season has been less than in previous years, but 1986/87 cocoa and coffee production has not suffered, the official Ivorian daily Fraternite Matin reported. The newspaper did not speculate on whether recent dry conditions seriously threatened the main 1987/88 cocoa crop. Trade sources said the weather up to now could be irrelevant if there is good rainfall in coming weeks. Precipitation during the present campaign has been lowest in northern savannah regions, where the cotton crop has especially benefitted from the dry weather, Fraternite Matin said. Agriculture Minister Denis Bra Kanon said earlier this month 1986/87 cotton output would be a record 213,506 tonnes, compared with 190,000 tonnes in 1985/86. Fraternite Matin said the mainstays of Ivorian agriculture had been little affected by the dry weather. Coffee does not need very much water to survive and only old cocoa plants have been affected in some regions, it added. London-based dealer Gill and Duffus recently forecast 1986/87 Ivory Coast cocoa output at a record 590,000 tonnes, which compares with 585,000 estimated for 1985/86. It described early development of the new main crop as patchy. The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) earlier this year forecast a drop in 1986/87 coffee production in the Ivory Coast due to drought in the western part of the country. It estimated the crop at 3.84 mln bags compared with the previous year's 4.33 mln bag harvest. Ivorian officials have only described this year's coffee crop as "normal."