Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala
Tanzania plans to more than double cotton production in five years as farmers increase cultivation, encouraged by higher prices for the fiber, Minister of Agriculture Japhet Hasunga said.
Output for the 2020-21 season is expected to increase to 400,000 metric tons from 348,882 tons in 2019-20, he said in an emailed statement.
The government’s goal is “to boost production of cotton to 1 million metric tons by 2024-25,” he said.
Cotton is Tanzania’s fourth-biggest cash crop after cashews, tobacco and coffee, and fetched the East African
nation $68.4 million of export earnings in 2018. Output in Tanzania peaked in the 2005-06 season at about 370,000 tons before falling to just under 133,000 tons in 2016-17.
