In this prosperous season of board meetings in public companies and establishments, the Cotton Development Company (Sodecoton) should hold its own in the coming days, no later than June 30, 2022, according to government directives. It is during this session scheduled in Yaoundé that the actions of the agribusiness juggernaut in the northern part of the country will consolidate the company’s figures. These include statistics relating to the 2021-2022 cotton campaign, which has just ended with the commercial campaign on May 30, 2022. It is therefore at the end of this that we will know the production volume of the Sodecoton on behalf of this campaign which has just ended, including the turnover of cotton production and that generated by oil mills.
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However, the 2022-2023 agricultural campaign has already been launched, officially since June 3 in Mora in the Far North region by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gabriel Mbaïrobé. This coincided with the return of the rains in the northern part of the country, with a slight delay compared to the southern part of the country where the rains have resumed since March-April. This delay had repercussions on the production cycle of Sodecoton, and jeopardized the early sowing period for producers. This generally occurs in May and ultimately favors early harvests, including quality seed cotton purchased by Sodecoton, together with an earliness bonus.
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“For a number of years, the return of the rains has no longer been agreed. Before, in May, we were already witnessing the return of the rains, and we proceeded to early sowing. Early sowing crops had a special premium, in addition to the normal price per kilogram. And some growers were getting into early sowing so they could harvest early and earn that premium. This year is the first experience where we missed early sowing, which jeopardizes the precocity premium for producers,” says a source at Sodecoton. Producers are now focusing on the normal sowing phase, having missed the early sowing, then will come the late sowing. At the end of these three phases, the company will be able to assess the quantities of seedlings made available to producers for the current crop year, including crop areas. Remember that for this campaign, the price per kilogram of seed cotton has been revised upwards, to 285F, against 250F during the previous campaign.
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