Mali, Africa’s second biggest cotton producer is set to harvest a record crop because of good rainfall. Favorable weather, subsidies for fertilizers have also helped boost the harvest due to end in March. The goal is to reach 8, 00,000 tons in 2018.

Mali’s cotton and gold account for about 80 per cent of the nation’s export earnings. The cotton industry provides income to four million people, out of a total population of 15 million. Economic growth is expected to decelerate to 5.3 per cent this year from six per cent in 2015, driven by slower expansion in agricultural output. This would still be above the historical average of about 4.5 per cent.

Neighboring Burkina Faso is Africa’s largest producer of cotton. Mali wants to step up local processing of cotton seed, which is currently at about two per cent. There are 17 deseeding factories and plans are to increase this to 22. The plan is also to increase sales of cotton fiber at the international level, mainly to China and north Africa. Europe’s large clothing retailers source from factories in Ethiopia, and Mali wants to attract similar brands. One lakh hectares planted with cotton will be watered within three years.