Mozambique, a country in southeastern Africa, is likely to produce 110,000 tons of cotton in the current marketing year 2013-14, daily newspaper Noticias reported.
Cotton production in Mozambique grew from 41,000 tons in 2009-10 to 65,000 in 2010-11 and reached 184,141 tons in 2011-12. However, the production fell to 67,392 tons in 2012-13, against the target of 100,000 tons.
The decrease in production by 116,749 tons in 2012-13, compared to the previous year, brought a negative impact on family budgets as cotton is a cash crop with high commercial value, according to the report.
According to the data presented at the Annual Technical Meeting on cotton, about 150,000 of the 290,000 people engaged in growing cotton have abandoned the crop and turned to growing other more profitable crops during the year.
Norberto Mahalambe, director of the National Institute of Cotton, attributed the decline in cotton production in the country to adverse events, including low prices and insufficient rainfall.
At the meeting, Mr. Mahalambe said it is necessary for cotton growers to meet and share knowledge about the technicalities of the last harvest, where production fell by almost half.
