Home >

The West African Cotton Industry Has Been Caught In Multiple Crises.

2011/5/26 11:35:00 56

??? 日本語 Fran?ais English 中文

The African Cotton Association recently pointed out that since 2004, the West African cotton industry has been in a multiple crisis.

2004/2005 and 2008/2009 two cotton planting season, the total output of West Africa cotton decreased from 1 million 200 thousand tons to 600 thousand tons, reducing production by 50%.

And cotton is global.

Fiber products

The proportion of consumption in China also dropped from 52% in 1975 to 35% in 2010.

In addition, African cotton farmers are also being treated by the developed countries to subsidize their cotton farmers, resulting in unfair competition for cotton in Africa.

According to the statistics of the international cotton supervision committee, the subsidy amount to cotton farmers in developed countries during the 2009/2010 sowing season amounted to US $4 billion 700 million.

Among them, the United States accounted for 1 billion 800 million dollars.

In this regard, Mali, Buji, Faso, Benin and Chad 4 countries have submitted an arbitration application to the WTO dispute settlement body, but so far it has failed.

The cotton industry is an important pillar of economic and social development in West African countries, and is known as "white gold".

Cotton exports account for 50% of the total annual export revenues of Buji's FASCO and Benin, accounting for 30% of Mali, which directly or indirectly relate to the lives of millions of people, and play an important strategic role in driving other crop production, ensuring food security and promoting rural development.

It should be pointed out that Africa's cotton industry is not only subject to the negative effects of subsidies from developed countries, but also backward in planting technology, which is also an important reason for its slow development.

All Africa except South Africa only approved the introduction of genetically modified Buji in 2008.

Cotton seed

The planting area is 100 thousand hectares, accounting for only 1/4 of the total area.

During 1995~2009, cotton production in West Africa dropped from 400 kg to 300 kg per hectare.

In India, because of the use of GM varieties, cotton has increased from 302 kg per hectare to 560 kg.

Cotton processing

On the other hand, West Africa has less than 2% local processing capacity.

As early as 1980, the eight countries of the West African Confederation had 41 cotton processing plants, but only 20 remained in 2006.

Self produced textiles in West Africa account for only 17% of the local market consumption, most of which are imported from Asia and a small number of secondhand garments from Western Europe.

In order to change this situation, the West African Confederation of trade consortium put forward the development strategy of reconstructing and strengthening the cotton textile industry in 2003, and demanded that the cotton processing volume reached 25% of the total output by 2010.

President Toure of Mali also stressed that developing cotton processing is the fundamental way out for the survival of the West African cotton industry.

But last November, the Commissioner for enterprise, telecommunications and energy development of the West African Confederation admitted that the strategic results were far from the desired goals.

However, due to the good quality of West Africa's cotton, cheap labor, and the increasing local population and strong market demand, the West African cotton industry has a bright future.