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DE RUEHOU #0332 1150756
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R 240756Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3591
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC 0049
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0269
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RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0036
RUEHSB/AMEMBASSY HARARE 0040
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0041
RUEHPC/AMEMBASSY LOME 2039
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA 0205
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0021
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0664
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 0017

UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 000332 
 
SIPDIS 
 
ACCRA FOR USAID 
DAKAR FOR FAS RHANSON 
USTR FOR LAURIE-AGAMA 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD EAGR ECON EAID PREL USTR UV
SUBJECT: BURKINA FASO TO HOST AFRICAN "COTTON UNIVERSITY" 
 
 
¶1.  Key Point: 
 
-- A French foundation and business school, with the financial 
backing of France and the European Union, are working with a 
regional producers association to found a "Cotton University" in 
Burkina Faso for students from 15 cotton-producing nations. 
 
¶2. Key Judgment: 
 
-- The impetus behind the creation of this school was the 
recognition that poor management techniques by African producers, 
not just subsidies by global competitors, are also behind their 
sector's woes. 
 
End Key Point and Key Judgment: 
 
¶3. African cotton producers have concluded that removal of American 
and European subsidies will not alone resolve their industry's 
current difficulties.  One solution proposed by African heads of 
state during the 24th Africa-France Summit in February 2007 in 
Cannes, France was the creation of a "Cotton University" similar to 
U.S. universities with faculties focusing on the cotton sector, aka 
"cotton schools." 
 
¶4. In this regard, the Association of African Cotton Producers 
(APROCA) recently announced that, starting in September 2008, 
Burkina Faso would become home to a newly founded "Cotton 
University."  This "University" will be located on the campus of the 
University of Bobo-Dioulasso with an annual enrollment of 20 to 30 
new students from 15 African cotton-producing nations. Classes will 
better acquaint African cotton producers with the competitive 
realities of the world cotton industry by offering courses in 
management, marketing, and research.  The curriculum will be taught 
by skilled technicians, who will explain modern production methods, 
capacity building techniques, risk management, cotton 
classification, and the dynamics of world cotton prices. 
 
¶5. The project will be jointly sponsored by APROCA, the prestigious 
HEC School of Management in Paris, and the Foundation for World 
Agriculture and Rural Life (FARM), a French non-profit organization 
whose founding organizations include a USAID-counterpart, the Agence 
Francaise de Developpement.  The school, which is expected to cost 
Euro 4.6 million (US 7.2 million) to operate during the first three 
years, will be run with financial backing from France and the 
European Union.  HEC plans a Paris-based cotton exhibition at the 
end of May to highlight the opening of the new school. 
 
¶6. The city of Bobo-Dioulasso, in southwestern Burkina Faso, was 
chosen as the University's future home because of its reputation as 
"the capital of the Burkinabe cotton industry."  The area is also 
well-known for its successful field trials of genetically modified 
or "Bt" cotton with U.S. biotechnology company, Monsanto. 
 
JACKSON