Dougourakoroni Cotton Producers Co-operative, Mali About the co-
operative ||Kita, southwest Mali | |Number of producers: ||169,
including 65 women| ||7 hectares/17 acres| ||(81 members,
2003/04) | The Kita region was traditionally the centre of
peanut production until drought and disease badly hit production
in Mali and other Sahel countries in the early 1980s. Production
in Mali slumped to its lowest level in 1992/93, causing poverty
and hardship in peanut growing communities. Cotton was
introduced by a local NGO as an alternative cash crop and in
January 1995 the Compagnie Malienne pour le Développement des
Textiles (CMDT) began promoting cotton production in the region
on behalf of the Government of Mali. Mali’s cotton production
has grown from 500,000 tonnes in 1997 to a record 635,000 tonnes
in 2003, making Mali the largest cotton producer on the African
continent. Production fell slightly to 600,000 tonnes in 2004
and 20051 Forty percent of the rural population of Mali is now
dependant on cotton product