Burkina Faso will miss target for record cotton production this season

Burkina Faso will probably produce 722,000 tonnes of raw cotton in the 2015-2016 season, missing its target of a record 800,000 tonnes due in part to intermittent rains, cotton producers said on Monday.

Production in West Africa's top cotton producer will however be around 40,000 tonnes higher than the last season, which runs from May to February.

"For those among us who followed the evolution of the season, we have noticed there were so many difficulties that producers had to revise seasonal projections," said Bernard Zougouri, general director of the Burkina Company of Textile Fibers.

Another source from the National Union of Cotton Producers (UNPCB) blamed late, irregular rains for the shortfall.

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Sofitex, the largest of the three cotton companies, expects to buy 580,000 tonnes of raw cotton for 100 billion CFA francs ($168 million).

Although world cotton prices have tumbled 20 percent in the past year, Burkina Faso has invested in increasing output by increasing payments to farmers and cutting the price of fertilisers.

$1 = 594.6500 CFA francs