By George Mwangi

Special to Dow Jones Newswires


Cotton production in the African Franc zone, which comprises 10 countries in West Africa, is expected to fall 20% due to heavy insect infestations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said late Wednesday.

Production is forecast at 4.8 million 480-pound bales in the August-through-July current marketing year, down from a record production of 6.0 million bales a year earlier, the USDA said in its February World Agricultural Production report.

Heavy infestations of cotton leafhoppers or jassids were reported in most countries by December, it said.

Harvested area is estimated at 2.9 million hectares (7.2 million acres), down 7% from the prior year and nearly equal to the five-year average, it said.

Ivory Coast's national cotton and cashew council reported in November that yield drops were more than 20% below the 5-year average, after most insecticides and insect-control programs were ineffective in combating leafhopper infestations, the USDA said.

Mali also reported lower cotton-harvested area due to floods, it said.

The African Franc Zone countries are Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Chad, Togo, Central Africa Republic, Senegal and Niger, in order of estimated production in the 2022-23 marketing year, the USDA said.


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-09-23 0513ET