Ivorian cotton farmers get raise in mandated price

The Ivory Coast is largely market-based and depends heavily on the agricultural sector. In a bid to increase production in the wake of a unsatisfactory cotton harvest, the Ivory Coast government increased mandated cotton price for farmers by six percent for 2016-17 seasons hoping that this increase will permit an expansion in the number of farmers and bump up production, a government spokesman said.

Ivory Coast, before a 2002-2003 civil war which split the country in two and halved production was one of the region’s major cotton exporters, with an annual output of about 400,000 tonnes.

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.

According to the cotton ginners’ association, they are expecting the raw cotton production for the 2016/17 season to reach 360,000 tonnes, 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.

In the 2015/16 season, due to bad weather the output dropped to 310,000 after reaching 450,000 tonnes the year before.