Ivory Coast increased a government-mandated price for farmers' cotton by 6 percent for the 2016/17 season on Wednesday in a bid to increase production in the wake of a disappointing harvest, a government spokesman said. Ivorian farmers will be paid 265 CFA francs ($0.44) per kilogramme when harvesting begins later this month, up from 250 CFA francs per kilogramme last season, Bruno Kone told reporters following a cabinet meeting in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
"The government has the hope that this increase will permit an expansion in the number of farmers and augment production," he said. The West African nation's cotton season runs from May to April, with planting beginning with the first rains in May and harvesting opening in late November. Output fell to 310,000 tonnes in the 2015/16 season due to bad weather, after reaching 450,000 tonnes the year before.
Raw cotton production for the 2016/17 season is expected to reach 360,000 tonnes, the cotton ginners' association said in September. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, was one of the region's major cotton exporters, with an annual output of about 400,000 tonnes before a 2002-2003 civil war split the country in two and halved production.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.