Togo hopes cotton output to rebound after 43% drop in 2020

Togo's cotton output is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels in the next season, after shrinking by 43 per cent last year due to unfavourable weather and falling prices, according to the New Cotton Company of Togo (NSCT), the nation's largest cotton producer. The country’s cotton output was 66,000 tonnes in 2020, down by 43 per cent from the previous season.

"Overall, at the national level, results have been disappointing," NSCT deputy director Martin Drevon told a recent press conference. He said that the steep decline over the course of the pandemic resulted from a combination of declining prices, poor seed quality and bad weather, newspapers in the country reported.

Meanwhile, Olam International, the majority stakeholder in NSCT, plans to invest CFA4.6 billion in the 2021-2022 cotton campaign. It eyes an output of 135,000 tonnes for the season.