Togo's cotton output is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels in the next season, after shrinking by 43 per cent last year due to unfavourable weather and falling prices, according to the New Cotton Company of Togo (NSCT), the nation's largest cotton producer. The country’s cotton output was 66,000 tonnes in 2020, down by 43 per cent from the previous season.

"Overall, at the national level, results have been disappointing," NSCT deputy director Martin Drevon told a recent press conference. He said that the steep decline over the course of the pandemic resulted from a combination of declining prices, poor seed quality and bad weather, newspapers in the country reported.

Meanwhile, Olam International, the majority stakeholder in NSCT, plans to invest CFA4.6 billion in the 2021-2022 cotton campaign. It eyes an output of 135,000 tonnes for the season.

Part of the funds will be spent on industrial infrastructure, tech equipment, management software, including the NSCT’s integrated management software package SAP which will serve to manage farmers’ environment. CFA2.5bn will be used to renovate factories and buy spare parts.

For the new campaign, NSCT has decided to use a weather alert system, to avoid rain issues encountered the previous season. Togo's total cotton output in 2019 was 117,000 tonnes.

Although Togo's export revenues mostly come from petroleum, cotton accounted for around 5.8 per cent of its total exports in 2019, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

In parallel, NSCT will have to pre-finance the new cotton season, injecting CFA9 billion in the purchase of inputs, and make advance payments for major producers. The funds will be recovered at the end of the campaign, the company said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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