Erik Orsenna, vice-president of FARM Foundation, was awarded first prize in the Economic Book Award for his Voyage au Pays du Coton, Petit Précis de Mondialisation ("Journey to the Lands of Cotton, A Brief Manual of Globalisation").
The author’s attachment to Africa is well-known. The awarded book begins with cotton-industries of Mali, and gives the example of Burkina Faso, of the National Union of Cotton Producers of Burkina (UNPCB) and of his president François Traore, also president of the Association of African Cotton Producers (AproCA).
The prix was presented on February 3rd by the French Minister of Finance, Thierry Breton, after the announcement by the jury composed of journalists and presided by Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, president of Fimalac group.