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Cotton production expected to decline 3% in 2009/10

20 Oct '09
5 min read

In Burkina Faso, privatization of DAGRIS in combination with government subsidies, foreign aid, and special loan programs were expected in reinvigorate the cotton sector. However, cotton company debts continue to be a major source of disincentive to farmers. According to the USAID's West African Cotton Improvement Program (WACIP), Société des fibres et textiles (SOFITEX) and Société Cotonnière du Gourma (SOCOMA), two of the nation's leading cotton companies were indebted to growers by about $4.3 million and $2.8 million, respectively. The effectiveness of the reforms in improving production in these countries remains an open question.

Political instability has been rife in some of the AFZ countries. Prior to the war in 2002, Cote d'Ivoire ranked as one of the leading cotton producers in the region. In fact, in the year preceding the outbreak of violence, Cote d'Ivoire's production surpassed all AFZ countries except Mali.

The mixture of political instability and other socio-economic factors has caused cotton output of the once stable French West African country to decline sharply. In 2009/10, production in Cote d'Ivoire is forecast at 175,000 bales, down over 90 percent since the start of the civil strife, and the lowest output in nearly five decades. A similar decline is also expected in Chad, another war-ravaged country. Since 2004, production in Chad has declined each year with output forecast to decline 11 percent in 2009/10 from last season.

Cotton production in the AFZ is predominantly rain-fed in a region where there are two seasons per year, namely the dry season and the rainy season. Physical infrastructure such as storage, irrigation, road networks, and communication is generally weak.

Weather shocks, such as the 2003 flooding in Burkina, Mali, Senegal, and Chad, and episodic droughts in countries where irrigation infrastructure is poor greatly hamper productivity and overall output. Other factors that have hindered increased production include the rising global consumption of relatively cheap synthetic fibers, and external factors such as agricultural and trade policies of countries like India and China, which have largely maintained their output levels in recent years as relative cotton prices have declined sharply.

United States Department of Agriculture

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