BAMAKO: Mali’s cotton harvest for the 2021/22 season is expected to be 731,000 tonnes, 10% below an earlier forecast due to insufficient rain in some areas and localised floods elsewhere, data from the cotton producers’ association showed on Thursday.

In March, the government forecast that cotton production would rebound this season to 810,000 tonnes after plunging nearly 80% in 2020/21 to 147,200 tonnes because the pandemic upended demand and farmers went on strike.