Farmers in Burkina Faso Refuse to Plant over Low Price

Now that cotton growers’ demands for higher prices have gone unfulfilled, about 8,000 of them have refused to plant a crop for the 2011/12 harvest. Farmers had been demanding a set price of 55 cents per kg, while the three largest cotton companies fixed the price at slightly less than 53 cents per kg.

The grower price is less than half of the amount they were originally demanding–$1.12 per kg–but while they agreed to lower their price demands, they requested a decrease in the cost of fertilizer. Currently costing $35.09 for a 50-kg bag, growers want the cost to be cut to $28.07 per bag.

Burkina Faso Prime Minister Luc Adolphe Tiao said on television that the government will review the entire situation prior to the start of next year’s season and work to find a solution that works for all parties involved. It is crucial to the country’s well-being that they do, with nearly 2.8 million of the country’s 16.3 million people earning a living from the cotton industry.