5. Conclusion

For millennia, man has exploited the cotton plant for its fiber and seed. The former, mainly used in the textile industry, must meet specific technological requirements depending on the product. The second, rich in oil and protein, is used in the food and cosmetics industries.

Cotton is the leading natural textile fiber, with 26 million tons produced in 2018-2019. Predominant in the 1960s, by 2020 it had largely been overtaken by synthetic fibers derived from petrochemicals. Most of the world's cotton production now comes from Asia, which is also the main textile-processing region. The average global yield is 800 kg of fiber per hectare, but varies by a factor of 1 to 5 from country to country.

World cotton production faces a number of challenges. These are particularly acute in Africa. Climate change, whose expected impacts are potentially...