Tanzania Is Latest to Suffer from Inclement Weather

By Jim.Robinson|January 27, 2011

In what is becoming a disturbingly common occurrence, the cotton industry must add yet another country to the list of those with crops damaged by severe weather: Tanzania, which might be forced to reduce its lint cotton forecast for 2010/11 by as much as 40 percent, from 90,000 tonnes of lint to 54,000 tonnes.

The problems began with a drought that stretched from December 2009 through March 2010, but the more recent problem is excessive rains, according to Marco Mtunga, acting director general of the Tanzania Cotton Board. Those losses were further compounded by growers’ improper use of water-based insecticides.

With 500,000 farmers cultivating 1.2 million acres of cotton, Tanzania had high hopes of increasing its cotton production, setting a target of 260,000 tonnes by 2014/15. The gains were expected to come from higher productivity, more available credit for growers, and the introduction of contract farming.

The past several years have been difficult for the African nation, however, with total output dropping 27 percent, from 123,000 tonnes in 2008/09 to 89,000 tonnes last year, and then another 40 percent after the past year of inclement weather.