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COTTON

YIELDS IN

AFRICA

Extracts from articles that appeared in the issues of THE ICAC Recorder,
September and December 2018

Africa has all of the natural resources that should
have made it big for cotton, but over the past 30

years, cotton yields in Africa have been stagnant
at an average of about 350 kg of lint per hectare.

Cotton is a major source of foreign exchange Those who have been working for the
earnings in more than 15 African countries betterment of the cotton sector in Africa are
and a source of cash income for poverty familiar with the small-scale resource-poor
alleviation in these countries. African cotton farmers, many of whom do not have access
farmers predominantly face three main to fertilisers, pesticides, improved seeds and
constraints: very low cotton yield, lower prices even the simplest of technologies due to poor
and forced reduction of cotton area due to purchasing power or weak logistics. Several
production of food crops to support increasing researchers argue that without access to any
populations. The main constraints in Africa of the technological inputs, yields in Africa
are influenced by political, socio-economic cannot increase. In this context, it would
and ecological conditions. Cotton in Africa be interesting to draw a parallel between
is predominantly a smallholder crop, mainly Africa and India. India also has small-scale
grown on small family farms of less than three resource-poor farmers, but they have access to
to four hectares in size. Cotton in Africa is all the modern agri-technologies and inputs.
also mostly rainfed, with the exception of However, yields in rainfed regions of India
South Africa, where most of the cotton is are as low as in Africa. Therefore, it would
irrigated, and countries such as Ethiopia, be pertinent to ponder if the introduction of
Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan, where some Bt-cotton, especially in the form of hybrids, or
farms are irrigated. increasing the application of fertilisers and

18 | Katoen SA \\ Cotton SA