Cotton in South Africa is no longer popular
Audio 01:49
South African cotton producers complain of not having access to the latest agricultural technologies, cultivars, more resistant, productive species.
© CC0 Pixabay / Contributor
By: Romain Chanson Follow
5 mins
Between the 2018-2019 season and today, the cultivated areas have 10,000 hectares.
South Africa is a very small producer country on an African and even regional scale, behind Zimbabwe and Zambia.
So if its surface areas thus decrease, what future for the sector?
Publicity
From our correspondent in Johannesburg,
Harvesting is underway in South African cotton fields, mainly in the Limpopo and Northern Cape regions, across only 17,000 hectares, this is 40% less compared to the 2018-2019 season when the South Africa had 41,713 ha of cotton.
The estimated production is also down: 80,200 bales of cotton for this season against 134,000 bales in the previous season.
Farmers have shunned cotton, and there are several reasons for this.
A cyclical disinterest
First a meteorological factor.
In South Africa, the majority of cotton cultivation is not irrigated and therefore depends on rainfall.
For the last few seasons, the weather was not favorable at the time of planting.
Farmers have chosen other crops.
Among them: corn, soybeans and sunflowers, driven by high prices on the market.
Conversely, cotton suffered the consequences of the pandemic.
As of April 2, 2020, the price of a pound of cotton was worth $ 59 compared to around $ 88 today.
Another more technical reason.
South African cotton producers complain of not having access to the latest agricultural technologies, cultivars, more resistant, productive species.
Multinational agricultural companies are not opening up to the South African market, which is deemed too small.
Cotton still has a future in South Africa
Should we be worried about this decline?
No, according to Henni Bruwer,
boss of Cotton SA
, which represents the industry.
First of all because it is cyclical: farmers are businessmen who seek the best opportunity from year to year.
The rise in cotton prices and the resumption of post-Covid economic activity should revive the crop.
The US Department of Agriculture forecasts a 3.5% increase in global cotton consumption
for the 2021-2022 season
.
Another good reason to believe in the return of cotton to South Africa: exchange rates.
The dollar, the currency of cotton, has been losing value against the South African rand for eight months, which has benefited local producers.
In summary, the increase in cotton prices, its global consumption and a favorable exchange rate should encourage South African farmers to reconnect with white gold.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
South Africa
Trade and exchanges
Economy Africa