Report compiled for the 2006 Paris International Agricultural Fair
All you need to know about cotton
What is CIRAD doing about cotton?
Several hundred million people worldwide are directly or indirectly involved in producing, processing or marketing cotton.
Cotton is one of the driving forces in development in West and central Africa. The French-speaking countries in that part of Africa alone are the world's second largest exporter. However, they are in a difficult position: yields are stagnating and their cotton production chains are having to cope with market liberalization, the agricultural subsidies paid by some of the major producing countries, and a drop in world prices.
The crisis in the commodity chain has set many new challenges for research, including:
- improving the competititvness of the commodity chain, notably by making farmers more professional,
- ensuring sustainable, ecofriendly production,
- improving fibre quality,
- developing innovations that will help build a future for the commodity chain.
Research now has new tools in the form of biotechnologies, computer modelling techniques and measuring devices.
To meet the challenges, CIRAD is working on joint research projects in partnership with national research systems, the higher education sector and training organizations, cotton firms, private operators and producers' organizations.