Output may decline to 89,000 metric tons in the season that ends in March from last year's crop of 123,000 tons, Joe Kabissa, director general of the Tanzania Cotton Board, said by phone from the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam today. The 2008-09 crop was the second biggest on record and brought in $82.8 million in revenue, he said.

"News about cotton prices being much lower due to the economic and financial crisis discouraged some farmers from growing cotton, "Kabissa said. Sparse rainfall in the growing season and too little use of pesticides have cut the size of the current crop, he added.

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, he said. Tanzania is Africa's fifth-largest lint-cotton producer, after Egypt, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Benin, according to 2007 statistics on the Web site of the Food and Agriculture Organization. The country is the world’s 20th largest producer, according to the FAO.

By Sarah McGregor