(Ecofin Agency) - In Burkina Faso, the 2015-2016 cotton season fell by 18% to 581,000 tons. According to the Burkina Faso Inter-Professional Cotton Association (AICB in French), this was due to bad weather conditions.

The season was indeed punctuated by long droughts, delayed rains, and floods. Production fall will inevitably impact Burkina’s economics as cotton is its second major source of revenue.

Regarding the 2016-2017 season, AICBE announced a price to producer of FCFA235/kg. Also, it added that government and main cotton firms in the country are to invest FCFA13.5 billion as subsidies to purchase pesticides and fertilizer. 

The main highlight in the local cotton industry concerns the battle opposing GMO-specialized firm, Monsanto, and government. The latter blames the former for the poor quality of its production as genetically modified seeds delivered by Monsanto resulted in the production of cotton crops with fibers shorter than what is demanded by market. Burkina Faso now demands FCFA48.3 billion of compensation but Monsanto says there could be many reasons for the fibers being shorter. Negotiations are ongoing, the firm said.

Aaron Akinocho