The country will probably produce 54,000 metric tonnes of lint cotton in the season through June compared with a previous estimate of 90,000 tonnes, Mr Marco Mtunga, a quality regulation official, said in an e-mailed statement.

The crop in the country was reduced because of a drought that lasted from December 2009 to March last year and “excessive rains,” he said. Yields were also affected by “improper application of water-based insecticides,” Mr Mtunga said.

Tanzania produces the medium-fiber variety of cotton. The nation planned to raise lint cotton output to 260,000 metric tonnes in 2014-15 through improved productivity, extending credit to farmers and introducing contract farming. It was Africa’s sixth-biggest producer of the fiber in 2008, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

The drop in production follows a slump to 89,000 tonnes in the 2009-10 season from 123,000 tonnes a year earlier, according to the board.

Tanzania plants the crop in its western region in December and the reaps are in from June through August, while the eastern region plants in February to March and harvests from August to October, according to the board. The country’s cotton marketing season starts July 1 through June, it says.

As many as 500,000 Tanzanian farmers cultivate about 485,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of cotton in the country’s northern, coastal and western regions, the board said. (Agencies)

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