(Ecofin Agency) - In Mali, cotton will be sold at FCFA250 per kg this season (2016-17). This is FCFA13 more than in the previous season. The increase in price to producer translates the country’s will to boost production which was at 513,553 tons last season and was deemed disappointing by observers.

Mali which aims to produce 650,000 tons of cotton this season, intends to keep up the trend by adding 150,000 tons the following season. In order to push producers help the government meet its target, the Compagnie malienne pour le développement textile (CMDT) will pay farmers a bonus FCFA2.7 billion. “We believe that with government’s fertilizer subsidy and this price, which is quite appealing, we can achieve better results and meet our target,” CMDT’s president Mobino Kone recently told Reuters.

Mali is the second largest producer of cotton in Sub Saharan Africa, behind Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

Aaron Akinocho