Tanzania's cotton output to drop by 11 percent

Tanzania's cotton output was predicted to drop by approximately 11 percent in this season due to unfavorable weather.

According to statistics released by the Tanzanian Cotton Lint and Seed Board on Monday, cotton production of the 2005/2006 season is predicted to go down to around 300 million kilos compared with the 334 million kilos of harvests in the previous season.

Tanzanian farmers start planting cotton in December and sells from July to March. Cotton yielding heavily relies on whether there is abundant rainfall in the two rain seasons. One is between September and November while the other starts from March and ends in mid June.

The cotton board said Tanzanian farmers had not got enough rainfall during the just ended long-rain season hence substantively effected this year's production.

Shortage of rainfall had resulted in a decreased cotton output of only 135 million kilos in the year 2003 whereas it recovered by 246 percent in 2004 thanks to favorable weather.

Cotton is Tanzania's largest export crop after coffee and the sector employs more than 500,000 rural households.

The official Tanzania Cotton Board had been handling most of the cotton trading before 1994 until when the east African country eliminated monopoly and introduced competition into the cotton marketing.

Source: Xinhua