As Mali’s second most lucrative source of export after gold, cotton is a key resource for the West African country.
The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and strike actions by farmers hurt the industry and crashed production targets in 2020 and 2021.
But the country can rejoice again as farmers hit record numbers by producing 760,000 tons of cotton in the 2021-2022 season — the largest on record across Africa.
The government believes the turnaround is due to initiatives like maintaining a subsidy on agricultural inputs.
Malian cotton farmers have enough to build on to have an even better year in 2023.