(Ecofin Agency) - In Benin, the 2015-2016 cotton season has just been launched. Among the novelties for this season is the increase of FCfa 10 per kilogram in the buying price which is now of FCfa 260.

It is however worth noting that the country will sell less cotton after a harvest estimated at 324,000 tons, a decrease of 69,000 tons compared to the previous year. “The fundamental reason for this drop in the cotton production for the 2015-2016 season, is mainly the dry spells registered during the sowing period in the cotton basin”, Ruffin Nan Nansounon, Beninese Minister of Agriculture, explained to Xinhua.

Another reason for this reduction: the extent of planted areas which at 306,000 hectares is less than the expected 400,000 hectares.

Main export crop of Benin, cotton generates 40% of the foreign currencies the country earns and sustains one Beninese out of three.