Ghana is planning to increase its annual cotton harvest at least fourfold as it turns to private companies including Armajaro Holdings Ltd. and Olam International Ltd. to revive the industry.

Production of the fiber during the 2011 crop harvest, which will start in October or November, is forecast at 21,000 metric tons, said Abdul Rahman Mohammed, president of the Ghana Cotton Farmers Association. A year earlier, Ghana produced 5,010 tons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ghana, the worldΆs second-biggest cocoa producer, saw cotton output slump after reaching a peak of 18,940 tons in the 2000-1 harvest, according to the USDA, as soil became depleted and investments dwindled. On March 7, the day that Ghanaian Vice President John Mahama announced the plan to revive the sector, cotton futures reached a record of $2.197 a pound.

The price has since fallen as demand slowed and traded at $1.0303 a pound by 3:10 p.m. on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Trade Minister Hannah Tetteh put last seasonΆs figure at a “pathetic” 3,000 tons and said March 1 the country plans to boost annual output to 50,000 tons within three years.

The local units of London-based Armajaro and SingaporeΆs Olam, which already buy cocoa beans from Ghanaian farmers, will harvest cotton this year along with agricultural company Wienco Ghana Ltd., said Rahman Mohammed. They took over production from the state-owned Ghana Cotton Co., which is no longer involved in the harvesting of the fiber, he said by phone yesterday. It still operates three cotton gins which have the capacity to process of 55,000 tons, he said.

The government plans to establish a cotton authority to develop policies for the industry, Seth Osei Akotto, an agronomist at the ministry of food and agriculture, said yesterday in Accra. Ghana grows its cotton in the three northern regions that border Burkina Faso, AfricaΆs biggest producer.