Cotton production promises to be record high in Mali. The country is one of Africa's leading cotton producers. A quarter of the population lives from it, directly or indirectly, by growing and collecting the cellulose fiber which, in season, covers vast areas with white. These thousands of Malian cotton farmers looked gray when the organization of West African States (ECOWAS) decided in January to close the borders and suspend trade with Mali. Gathered at the headquarters of a peasant association in Bamako, the presidents of the four federations in the south and west are sounding the alarm and asking for things to get back to normal as soon as possible. Note that cotton is one of Mali's leading sources of export revenue, after gold.