When to plant Cotton in Guinea Ecuatorial

Cotton is grown for one thing: the soft white fibre — the lint — that grows wrapped around the seeds inside a pod called a boll.

Cotton in Guinea Ecuatorial, rain-fed and with irrigation
Measure	Rain-fed	With irrigation
Fit	Favourable
When to plant	17 Nov 2026 – 29 Aug 2027 opens in 7 weeks	21 Jan 2026 – 1 Jan 2027
Expected harvest	about 2.1 t/ha	about 3.3 t/ha
Harvest	From 16 Apr 2027 to 26 Mar 2028, depending on the planting date
Ready to harvest	150–210 days after planting
Work it takes	91–187 days per hectare, by hand

Rain-fed. These dates are worked out from each place's own rainfall, for a field watered by the season — with irrigation a window can open earlier, close later, or come round more than once a year. Check your own field under What grows, or get the Divisi app for a calendar dated to your farm.

If you only get one chance to plant, aim for around 1 Jan 2027. That is the point in the window where the rains are most reliably established.

This season's rainfall outlook for Guinea Ecuatorial leans dry, so these dates sit later than the long-run average. Planting on the date you are used to risks germinating into a false start and having to replant.

Planting after 29 Aug 2027 leaves the crop short of season: it runs into the dry months before it has finished filling.

What decides this in Guinea Ecuatorial

Rain and temperature	96%
The soil	76%
The lie of the land	60%

For cotton in Guinea Ecuatorial, the lie of the land is the tightest of the three at 60%. You cannot flatten it, but you can farm it: plant along the contour rather than up and down, ridge or tie ridges to hold water on the slope, and expect shallower rooting than the crop would manage on flat ground.

The 2025 season in Guinea Ecuatorial

When the rains are expected	January 2025 to December 2025
Rain in a typical year	About 1,977 mm in a typical farming district
Across its districts	From about 1,719 mm in the driest of 32 districts to about 2,840 mm in the wettest
This season's rain	Leaning dry — January, February, September, October, November and December look short of rain. Plant at the early end of the window, favour quicker and more drought-tolerant crops, and keep moisture in the soil: mulch, and weed early.
This season's heat	Hotter than usual — about +0.8 °C over the growing months. Heat makes the same rain do less, so a dry spell bites sooner: do not plant late, and shade or mulch what you can.
What that supports	enough rain for a long crop, or two in a year, warm all year, so nothing but rain ends the season
Ground this covers	2 kinds of ground. The season below is one typical farming district's, not a figure for the whole of this area.

Agro-ecological zones covering this area
88%	enough rain for a long crop, or two in a year; warm all year, so nothing but rain ends the season 365 growing days · about 2,190 mm · January to December
11%	enough rain for a long crop, or two in a year; warm all year, so nothing but rain ends the season 365 growing days · about 2,180 mm · January to December

last updated 18 September 2026 · from all 32 areas within it

What cotton needs to grow here

Soil it likes	well-drained sandy loam, loam, clay loam or clay soil
Soil sourness (pH)	Happiest between pH 6.0 and 7.5
Spacing	90 cm between rows, 25 cm between plants
Feed it most with	nitrogen, potassium and boron

What it takes to grow cotton in Guinea Ecuatorial

Planting material	About 80,000 plants per hectare
Nitrogen (N)	About 59 kg per hectare
Phosphate (P₂O₅)	About 29 kg per hectare
Potash (K₂O)	About 63 kg per hectare
In the shops	A basal compound at planting — Compound D, or an NPK blend — covers the phosphate and potash. A nitrogen top dressing — urea or AN — goes on once the crop is established.
Hand work	91–187 days per hectare, by hand

These are the nutrients a cotton crop of that size carries off the field. What you actually apply depends on what your soil already holds — which is what a soil test, or the app's field records, tell you.

What to watch for

Pest/disease risk — manageableSoil pH outside the crop's rangeCorrect soil pH (lime)

Grow Cotton with a plan, not a guess

Everything above describes Guinea Ecuatorial as a whole — your own soil, slope and rainfall will shift the dates. The Divisi app works them out for your field, and dates each job that follows.

Or check your field first

Cotton in nearby districts

How to grow Cotton, step by step Land preparation to harvest — every task, in order

Frequently asked questions

Will cotton grow well in Guinea Ecuatorial?

Guinea Ecuatorial rates as favourable for cotton.

When should I plant cotton in Guinea Ecuatorial?

Typically 17 Nov 2026 to 29 Aug 2027, forecast-adjusted.

Is this exact for my own field?

No — these are readings taken across Guinea Ecuatorial, not on your field. Soil, slope and rainfall change from one farm to the next. Check your own location to see your own numbers.