In Burkina Faso, there are no industrial cotton farms like those in other regions of the world. Rather, cotton growing is conducted by small entrepreneurs, whose annual production comprises an average of two tons of cotton seed as a cash crop, with a small portion retained for subsistence purposes.
How much pesticide does Burkina Faso use?
Seidu says the problem with pest attack got out of hand in the mid-1990s. Farmers used at least one to two liters of pesticide per hectare to spray cotton fields, at least six times a season. In Burkina Faso, there are more than 600,000 hectares (nearly 1.5 million acres) of cotton fields.
How many liters of chemicals are sprayed in Burkina Faso?
In Burkina Faso, there are more than 600,000 hectares (nearly 1.5 million acres) of cotton fields. That amounts to about 7.2 million liters (nearly 1.9 million gallons) of potentially hazardous chemicals being sprayed in Burkina Faso every year just for cotton.
Why is Burkina Faso cotton so good?
Burkina Faso produces cotton that is of premium quality because of the long length of the fiber it produces. Cotton companies expressed concern that the length of fiber from the new variety was shorter and less trendy, and they were having difficulty getting premium prices for the product on the international market.