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By Peter Murphy

DALOA, March 16 (Reuters) - A harsh spell of dry weather in Ivory Coast's central Daloa region which has lasted several months is the worst in living memory and is killing off young cocoa trees, farmers and cooperatives said on Friday.

Rains have scarcely fallen in the major cocoa producing region since late November, apart from a short but heavy downpour in early February.

Farmers in the world's top cocoa exporter said they expected to harvest far less than usual during the coming April-September mid crop, the smaller of the two six-month growing cycles.

"It's a complete failure. There will be no mid crop on my farm," said Lambert N'Dri, 47, picking up dry, shrivelled pods from the trees as he walked through his 10-year-old, three-hectare plantation.

The few tiny flowers visible on his trees -- which normally herald the growth of pods -- fell from the branches when touched. Many of his trees were bare while others had a small number of medium-sized green pods.

N'Dri, who was born in Daloa, said he had never seen such a harsh, long-lasting spell of dry weather.

A manager at the local cooperative Kavokiva said it reminded him of a 1983 drought which caused months of power cuts because of a lack of water for hydro-electric dams.

A brief shower arrived in Gonate, a town 20 km (12 miles) from Daloa, on Friday afternoon where Kavokiva, one of the country's largest cooperatives, is located. A few drops fell in Daloa's town centre a few hours later.

"We are going to need a lot more of this," said the cooperative's production manager Albert Konan, staring out from a warehouse at the main road as the shower swept in.

PRODUCTION HIT

Even if regular rains fell from now, mid-crop production would still be hit in Daloa, Konan said, but added it might also result in an early start to the next main crop in October.

The small quantities of beans Konan expected to be harvested this year in the region would be too small to be of use to exporters, he said.

Exporters have estimated output for this year's mid crop possibly as low as 200,000 tonnes, far below last year's big harvest of more than 400,000 tonnes.

"We have never seen this. It is a disaster," said Konan, adding that the water company was rationing supplies, only turning on the water in the early hours of the morning, and that rural wells were dry.

Farmer Cesar Yoboue, 33, was less fortunate than N'Dri. His plantation with younger, more vulnerable trees planted between three and five years ago bore little resemblance to a cocoa farm, with leaves drooping and almost no pods.

"When it doesn't rain the young trees die because they don't have deep roots," he said, explaining that older trees could source moisture from deeper in the ground to sustain them for longer.

The paper-dry brown leaves carpeting the ground crackled as he walked around and turned to flakes when handled.

"There are cocoa trees that I will have to replace now," he said, yanking a tall but thin sapling from the ground and tossing it aside.

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