(Ecofin Agency) - In Côte d’Ivoire, forecasts for cotton production in 2017/2018 have improved compared to preliminary projections.

According to Mamadou Bamba, director of the Ivorian Cotton and Cashew Council (CCA), the country now expects an output of 400,000 tons of cotton at the end of the season ; this is 60,000 tons more than during the previous season and equals the annual average recorded before the 2002 political crisis. 

The official attributes the scale-up to good rains and better government support through an organization by production areas, a factor that allows a more efficient distribution of fertilizers and other agricultural inputs.

Fouth largest cotton producer in Africa in 2016/2017, after Burkina Faso, Mali and Benin, Côte d’Ivoire eyes an output of 600,000 tons by 2020.

Regarding commercialization, the price of a kilogramme of cotton was maintained at CFA265 for the 2017/2018 season.

Espoir Olodo