A tiny green grasshopper-shaped parasite has infested cotton crops across West Africa and slashed output forecasts for the 2022/23 season, industry representatives said.
The insects known as jassids settle under cotton leaves and feed on plant tissue, injecting a toxin that causes leaves to curl downwards and stunts reproductive capacity.
As a result, cotton producers in Senegal are only expecting to yield 500 kilogrammes per hectare compared to 1.3 tonnes estimated at the start of the season, said the National Federation of Cotton Producers . Togo has already lost more than 8% of the 72,000 hectares of cotton planted this season, mainly in the north of the country.
But authorities in Mali said the parasites were infesting fields there and officials were en route to estimate the damage.
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