Cotton

On an international level, the cotton sector is dominated by fibre price volatility, as a result of two strong influences: the weight of China in global trade, and the subsidies paid to producers in developed countries.

In sub-Saharan Africa, which is currently CIRAD's main theatre of operations, rural development is highly dependent on the cotton sector. Cotton and the food crops grown in rotation with it are produced under strict rainfed conditions, on small, extremely vulnerable family farms.

The issues

There are substantial issues for the cotton sector in West Africa, Chad and Cameroon. In effect:

• cotton exports contribute substantially to GDP (from 3 to 10% in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Togo): for instance, exports from West Africa totalled 800 000 tonnes of fibre in 2006, for a value of US$ 890 million;

• some 16 million people are involved in producing, processing and marketing cotton;

• cotton production accounts for a major share of the monetary income of between 2 and 3 million family farms (on average, around CFAF 100 000, or € 150, per hectare, per year).

CIRAD's role

Through its research in partnership, CIRAD is helping to improve the following points:

• competitiveness (productivity and quality) at supply chain level;

• producers' financial margins, by reducing production costs, boosting yields, and improving product quality;

• food security, by boosting the yields of the food crops grown in rotation, through crop management sequences better able to cope with rainfall variations, etc;

• cropping system sustainability, by maintaining soil fertility, integrated management of pest resistance to insecticides, reducing the impacts on human health and the environment (GMOs, pesticides, etc);

• building skills, through training, PhD thesis supervision, researcher networks, and information sharing.